Vegetable stock I mean! Seriously. Why would we cook with a vegetable stock that was not good enough to drink. Most of the supermarket stocks are just salty and un appetising with a list of chemical ingredients a mile long. They tell me there are some tasty ones, but I have not found any yet. And I like my food Clean! So I make my own vegetable stock and freeze it.
Most of the vegetables in the garden are past their best and just laying about making a nuisance of themselves, so I have begun to make the vegetable stocks. 
Like the summer sauce I make the stocks with whatever I find in the garden that day. You can even make stock using the clean vegetable peelings from your dinner preparation. I often save the water I pour off the peas, beans, cauliflower or potatoes and freeze it to add to a stock later on. Just label well.
Chop all your vegetables roughly. Yesterday I tossed sliced onion, garlic and celery in a little hot oil until they began to scent the kitchen. Then I threw in a roughly chopped potato, fennel bulb, a capsicum, one hot pepper, and an unpeeled chopped butternut. Let all that heat, rolling it about in the hot oil, then I added the fragrance – yesterday was basil leaves, fennel seeds, peppercorns and a little sea salt. (If you want a really clear broth then skip the braising in oil) Cover the vegetables with boiling water (or your reheated vege water) then add another inch or two of fluid. Bring to the boil again then turn the heat way down and simmer slowly for about 40 – 60 minutes with the lid on. Don’t let the vegetables over cook. Strain through a colander, then put a cheese cloth in the colander and strain again.
Good enough to drink! While we watch the colours change.
The stock was cooled and poured into small cup sized plastic recycled containers, labelled and frozen. Remember – label well. You can make stocks with hot peppers, or not. Or add herbs that you will be needing to taste in your winter cooking. I make some with a thai influence for the thai soups. Just write all over the container or plastic bag. I often set a plastic bag into a container so the stock will freeze into a stackable shape, then pull the full frozen bag out and reuse the container.
We need about a hundred cups of vegetable stock for a years supply. The chicken and beef stocks I make in the winter.
What do you think Jed, shall we add a little pepper vodka?
Later in the day there was opportunist hay making (with the grass on the bank) and more soy bean fields turning gold. 
and SNAP, caught you in my grapes!
Bad peahens.
Good morning. I hope you all have a lovely day.
celi
Oh here is a funny little story from On the Beach about the day I set my brother’s hair on fire. It’s ok it was just a little fire!
The Kitchen's Garden 
64 responses to “Stock that is good enough to drink”
The labeling is most important!!!!!
absolutely mouse, my memory is not what it used to be.. c
Mmm, I can imagine drinking it – but hot probably! It’s true about the bought ones being oversalted. Isn’t it satisfying to be ‘stocked up’ ready for the winter?
It is satisfying.. every day i put one more piece of the puzzle away.. and it is good..
FREEZE!!!! Yes, I freeze stock too….I have a bunch of chicken feet to make a chicken stock from…so glad you reminded me. But will there be room in the freezer? (chilly bin?). I like the Thai spice idea very much!
I used to make vegetable stock all the time, and haven’t in a while, so thanks for reminding me. I used to put a couple of cobs of corn in mine, which adds a lovely rich sweetness. And as you said the great thing is to just use what you have on hand…it’s all good!
Your photos reminded me of the little Wordsworth poem.. “I wandered lonely as a cloud..” but instead of daffodils, he’d see a host of animals grazing about! That is quite the veg stock!! I have always felt abhorrent when buying a carton of that cr*p.. and never knew how to make my own!! Fantastic!! And I do have some veggies wilting away in the fridge at all times, no more waste! I also loved your trick of freezing bags in containers to stack later!! You are awesome, c!! xx
All easy stuff, you know who I like to keep things simple, you pages are looking glorious today! c
Methinks vegetable is the worst of the premade stocks and I learnt to make mine from peelings/scraps long ago. A few good organic stocks available here now, but you have to pawn your jewellery to afford them 😉 ! And, by accident, I did learn a glass of said stock does help the morning-after 🙂 ! Love the landscape shot . . .
Oh really, Stock as a hangover cure!? Excellent.. c
P’raps a shot of vodka in it helps a mile 🙂 !
I really do appreciate the recipe! And what a great idea for using the vegetables that are past their prime! I don’t know why I didn’t think to do it before, but I sure will now! 🙂
The best time to make a stock is when you are in the kitchen preparing dinner anyway, as long as you strain it quickly so as not to lose the bright flavours.
Nice! I always feel well-prepared when I know I have some stock in the freezer. My mother makes a lovely sweet stock using lettuce, carrots, onion and celery. It’s good for using up lettuce that’s not so nice to eat (holey outer leaves, plants past their prime).
Oo lettuce, good tip, I never use carrots, i don’t like them, isn’t that strange.. c
Liking your lifestyle. I know it is a lot of work because I grew up on a farm, but there are so many good things about the farming lifestyle. I enjoying reading about yours.
Labeling does seem to be a very good idea! Nothing like surprises.
That stock sounds delicious. I’ve only recently started to make my own stock – strangely, because I was making broth for my ageing dog! He especially loves it with fennel…
Celi, I call home-made stock in your freezer “liquid gold”. Why would any one would purchase commercially made stock. You control what you put in stock, and most important, the amount of salt (precious little, just enough to draw flavour out of the bones). In our French restaurant we always had vegetable stock, fish stock, chicken stock, beef stock, veal stock, and the one I liked best kitchen stock. Kitchen stock simmered away on one of the back burners and everything left-over from prep and edible went into this deep gold and incredibly rich stock. I still have those huge stock-pots sitting forlornly on my pantry shelf. I seldom use the big pots now but I can’t part with them.
No I could not part with those pots either and I like this idea of kitchen stock, this is a tremendous idea, we take out the tasty stock and still get to feed the leftovers to the pigs. Hmm. I am going to work on doing this in my own kitchen.. thank you virginia c
I was like you: why buy stock full of unknown things when I could make my own. I did about three weeks ago, throwing in whatever I had (carrots, onions, garlic, mushrooms, turnip and a few other things). I made four mason jars, putting three in the freezer. It cost me about $5 to make (no fresh vegetables left over). The same amount at the store would have cost $12. The added benefit is that I know what is in mine.
I’ll give your recipe a try. Thanks.
Morning Diane and welcome.! I will be posting more about vege stock soon, its great isn’t it! c