MAGIC VEGETABLE STOCK

What’s magical about stock? This one uses vegetable scraps to reduce food waste and turns purple making it a good base for tasty Halloween recipes.

Ingredients:

• 1 gallon of vegetable scraps (suggestions: carrot peels, celery ends, onion peels, mushrooms stems, parsley stems, corn cobs)

• Wedge of red cabbage (around 1/4 of a medium cabbage)

• 1-2 bay leaves

• 3-4 whole black peppercorns

• 1 small bundle of herbs (optional)

Keep a 1 gallon container in the freezer to collect vegetable trimmings throughout the week. Once full, place the scraps in a large stock pot along with the other ingredients. Cover with water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer for 1 hour. Let cool. Pour through a mesh strainer to remove spent vegetables (put those scraps into the compost if possible). Transfer stock to airtight containers for storage. Makes around 12 cups of stock.

Tips:

-Avoid adding too many trimmings from the Brassica family or the broth may be bitter.

-Portion the broth into 8 or 16 ounce containers so it’s pre-measured for recipes.

-Broth will last 3-4 days in the fridge or up to 6 months in the freezer. Label it with the date.

-The recipe flavor and color will be different each time depending on the mix of vegetables. Adding red onion will boost the purple hue if you want an extra vivid stock.