What's All the Beef About Bone Broth

Your grandmother made it. Your acupuncturist touts its healing powers. It’s the talk of the town when it comes to digestive wellness. These days, it can be purchased locally, homemade, as well as fresh, frozen or boxed at many grocery stores or farmers’ markets. So what’s the real story with the now readily available gelatinous liquid gold?

Traditional Chinese Medicine is an empirical science with roots in Taoism. Much of the medicine was discovered through careful observation and reflection on nature over time. When it comes to bone broth, this ongoing cause-and-effect science led to the eventual conclusion that broth is, in fact, really good for our health. For many centuries, bone broth has been prescribed to nourish our vital essence, strengthen our kidneys, and build blood. These are the building blocks of health. It’s fundamentally in the bones.

Blood is an essential fluid. We use our blood all day long to eat, exercise, work, and think. Bone marrow is where we make both red and white blood cells. Through cooking bones filled with rich marrow, we can extract the rich blood-building nutrients and infuse our own cells by consuming it. This replenishing leads to immune system strength and continuous healing. We are partly made up of blood,afterall, and we need to build and maintain blood to feel healthy. Many of us have, at one point or another, felt “bloodless” fatigued or weak. That’s a good time for a little bone broth!

The Kidneys in Chinese Medicine are all about vitality, essence, sexuality, skin, and hair. They produce marrow, control the bones, and manufacture blood. If our Kidney qi is weakened, we might experience low energy, back pain, weak knees, poor memory, tinnitus, dry skin or hair, impotence, and infertility. Bones are the building blocks that hold us up - our framework, so to speak.

And speaking about holding, let’s not forget about Qi. Qi is what protects us from pernicious evils, helps us “hold ourselves” together, and is that mysterious energy that keeps us warm, able to defend, and metabolize so that we can transform food and water into essence and vitality. We can all recognize when our qi is up or down, or when someone has healthy qi versus depleted qi. Drinking bone broth supports the function of qi. This leads to longevity, a strengthened life force, and a healthier gut, which leads to a healthier immune system and stress response.

So, whether you believe all the beef about broth these days, please consider the ancient wisdom behind the hype. The most important thing with any good bone broth, whether from chicken, beef, or fish, is the quality of the bones. Healthy, hormone-free, grass-fed, wild, free range - we only want the good stuff!

It’s easy to make, store, and freeze, and can be used easily as a soup stock, to cook grains in, or as a straight-up tea. The best broth is cooked slowly for 24-48 hours, giving ample time to dissolve cartilage, tendons, marrow, and help leech out all the nutrients - calcium, magnesium, amino acids, iron, collagen, to name a few - into the broth.

Here’s to your Vital Bones!