By Ben Fuchs | Pharmacist Ben
It’s no secret that most people don’t get adequate nutrition through their daily food consumption. I spend much of my time educating folks about the nutritional supplementation we need to add to our diets to achieve longevity and vitality. There are a few foods, however, which stand out for their nutritional value, that I consider to be “superfoods”, and that can be included generously in the diet to great effect. One of my favorites is Bone Soup.
Chinese Pork Bone Soup (Gar Dook Mu On Tom Made Bur).
Bone Soup, made from chicken, beef, lamb or turkey, is a traditional food found in many cultures with a long history as a source of nourishment. While it is most commonly known as “Jewish Penicillin,” because of its powerful cold and flu-fighting powers, there are numerous health benefits received by consuming bone soup that make me wonder why people don’t drink it every day.
Bone Soup contains vitamins and minerals that have been shown to give the immune system a significant boost. In addition, long-chain saccharides, the healthful kind of sugars, within the soup are perfect to ease all ailments of the joints and muscles. This makes bone soup especially helpful when healing from surgery or broken bones, and a perfect recovery food for athletes, and everyone else who ever has muscle aches. Bone stock also contains healing substances that soothe, coat and rebuild the digestive tract, which is perfect for treating ulcers and intestinal problems. Finally, the broth contains skin-friendly amino acids and moisture factors that reduce wrinkle formation and keep skin soft and hydrated from within.
Basically, Bone Soup is a liquid food derived from the dissolution of animal bone, tendon and meat components in water. Prolonged simmering, known by culinary experts as “reducing,” allows cartilaginous factors of the animal parts to solubilize in the broth. In this process, long chain sugars co-mingle with protein-sulfur components to create glucoseaminoglycans, and form a gel matrix within the water. This process traps the minerals released from the bone, which include calcium, magnesium, and potassium, into a type of suspension called a colloid. This colloidal gel system has an electrical nature that vivifies the liquid and enhances the biological value of the nutrients carried within it.
Bone soup is easy to make. To get the maximum benefit from bone soup, it’s best to prepare the soup with oils, spices, and vinegar. One way to start the soup is to place your favorite spices and some oil or butter in the bottom of a large soup or spaghetti pot. Apply very slight heat until the spices dissolve within the oil. This allows active components in the spices to release into the oils, enhancing the medicinal properties of the oil.
Drop your bones into the pot and top them off with water. You can use just bones or a whole cooked chicken or turkey if you want to add more protein. Add a splash of vinegar, or lemon or lime juice, to help release the nutrients from bones. Cover and simmer for several hours. Fish requires only a few hours of simmering, while chicken bones can be stewed up to 12 hours and thicker bones of the beef shank may be rendered for 24 hours. If you use a pressure cooker you can save time.
Next, strain the soup to discard the bones and parts you don’t want to consume and salvage the broth. Next, you may add vegetables or more spices, and that’s it. If you make extra broth, it can easily be frozen and saved for later.
Bone soup is as much a nutritional supplement as delicious food. It’s a considerable source of vitamins, minerals, amino acids, proteins, and anti-cancer compounds, all in a bio-electrically active, easy to absorb form. All told it’s nutritionally packed, inexpensive, easy to make and a valuable, tasty part of a healthy lifestyle.
