Making and Storing Broth

A phone call from the beef man triggered the chore of cleaning out my freezer yesterday. I had chicken carcasses and parts from our last slaughter. I also had two beef soup bones from last year that needed to be used up. Time to make broth!

It is a long process, but not hard. Took me most of the day to boil down all the chicken. I slow cooked the beef bones in the crock pot for 24 hours.  All I do is put the meat in, add 2 onions and water to cover. I let it slow boil until the meat starts to come off the bones. I do not boil it until the bones are clean.

I then take out all the bones and meat. I hand pick all the bones for any meat that I can use. I will freeze that and use for pies or soups. It is hard to believe how much meat is left on a bone after you think you have taken it all off during processing.

After taking the bones and meat out I use a funnel and a strainer and pour ladles full into mason jars. I use the strainer because we like just the broth. I don't want any fat pieces or onions, or small pieces of meat in the broth.

I fill it an inch or more from the top because I freeze my broth and it will expand. Most sites I have looked up say you can store meat broth for up to 12 months in the freezer. At the end of this process which was this morning for the beef broth, I have 13 quarts of chicken broth and about 5 quarts of beef. Isn't it amazing that the fat at the top is so thin? That is one of the many benefits of grass fed, free range animals.