Instant Vegetable Broth with Carrots, Celery, and Leek
This Instant Vegetable Broth with Carrots, Celery, and Leek is a delicious base for soups and can be stored up to a year. Ingredients can be varied as desired.
Preparing the instant vegetable broth
Preheat the baking oven to 80° C (convection oven). Peel and coarsely chop the carrots and celery. Wash and coarsely chop the leek. Wash the herbs, shake dry, and coarsely chop. Peel and finely chop the onions and garlic. Finely chop or grind everything in a blender.
Spread the vegetable and herb mixture on two baking trays lined with baking paper and let dry in the oven on the middle rack for about 2 hours.
Open the oven door from time to time to allow moist air to escape.
Let the mixture cool, mix in the salt, and let rest for 30 minutes.
We have reduced the amount of salt by a factor of 40. You can add salt to your food at any time, but removing salt is much more difficult, if impossible. You can find out more about our motivation under Tips.
Pour the dry mixture into the blender and grind to a fine powder.
Transferring to jars and storing
Pour the finished vegetable broth into sterile Weck jars.
The instant vegetable broth can be kept in the refrigerator for up to 12 months.
Detailed Nutritional Information per Person for this Recipe
The majority of the nutritional information comes from the USDA (US Department of Agriculture). This means that the information for natural products is often incomplete or only given within broader categories, whereas in most cases products made from these have more complete information displayed.
If we take flaxseed, for example, the important essential amino acid ALA (omega-3) is only included in an overarching category whereas for flaxseed oil ALA is listed specifically. In time, we will be able to change this, but it will require a lot of work. An “i” appears behind ingredients that have been adjusted and an explanation appears when you hover over this symbol.
For Erb Muesli, the original calculations resulted in 48 % of the daily requirement of ALA — but with the correction, we see that the muesli actually covers >100 % of the necessary recommendation for the omega-3 fatty acid ALA. Our goal is to eventually be able to compare the nutritional value of our recipes with those that are used in conventional western lifestyles.
This Instant Vegetable Broth with Carrots, Celery, and Leek is a delicious base for soups and can be stored up to a year. Ingredients can be varied as desired.
Yield and serving size: According to the author, the quantity of ingredients we have selected for 10 portions yields approx. 500 grams of instant vegetable broth. Use 1 teaspoon per 250 mL of liquid.
Celery: Celery root is a cultivated form of wild celery. Thanks to its essential oils, celery root has a fresh, clean flavor that stimulates both appetite and digestion. In natural medicine, celery root is used to help with rheumatism, stomach, and intestinal disorders as well as kidney and bladder problems.
Carrots and carotene: Carrots are a favorite low-calorie raw food that are known for their high levels of carotenoids. Carotenoids are fat-soluble phytonutrients, of which beta-carotene is probably the most famous. Beta-carotene is representative of the carotene group of nutrients and is a precursor of vitamin A. It is also referred to as pro-vitamin-A.
In plants, carotenoids serve an important role in photosynthesis, provide protection from UV rays, and protect roots from infections.
While there is still much debate about whether beta-carotene protects against cancer in humans, the protective action that it has upon cells as an antioxidant has been shown.
Leek: Leeks are grown mainly in Europe and other areas around the Mediterranean sea. The taste is similar to that of its relatives onions and garlic, but milder. Leeks give many dishes a richer flavor. They work well in soups, vegetable side dishes, quiches, and casseroles. You can also eat them raw or grated in salads. The typical smell of leeks comes from the sulfur compound propanthial S-oxide and gives soups, casseroles, and other dishes an aromatic flavor.
Sea salt: Sea salt is usually obtained by allowing salt water to evaporate in specially designed salt evaporation ponds. It has been harvested this way since ancient times. Sea salt is different from other table salts in a number of ways, but it contains very little bromine and only the smallest traces of iodine and iodide. For this reason, even though people think that sea salt is healthier, there is no nutritional evidence to back up this belief.
Tips
Celery: After you peel celery root, it will discolor quickly. To help prevent this, you can drizzle lemon juice on raw celery root and add vinegar or lemon juice to the cooking water.
As low-salt as possible: The vast majority of commercial (instant) vegetable broths contain far too much salt, which affects the health of people suffering from hypertension and other conditions. Sodium is found in many natural ingredients, albeit in small amounts.
Alternate preparation
Ingredient variations: You can vary the ingredients according to taste and the vegetables available. Depending on your preferences, you can also add other herbs (e.g., oregano, thyme, and savory) or pimento seeds and juniper berries.
Raw variation: Instead of drying in the oven, you can also use a dehydrator. If dehydrated at a low enough temperature, this recipe can also be prepared as a raw dish. In this case, however, a very long drying time (> 12h) is required, which means that the recipe cannot be prepared within half a day.
Salt: Instead of sea salt, you can also use normal table salt.
