You don’t have to be a vegetarian or vegan to love vegetable stock. A rich, flavorful vegetable stock can take the place of a meat-based stock in most soups and dishes, freezes well, and is economical and easy to make.

Vegetable stock can be made with vegetable scraps and peelings, so the optimum time to start a pot is after you’ve washed and peeled some potatoes. Potato and onion skins add nice color to the stock while adding vitamins as well!

Stock can also be made with roughly cut, unpeeled vegetables, as you can see in the photo above. For this stock, whole onions, unpeeled carrots and potatoes, celery, mushrooms and whole garlic bulbs cut in half cross-ways were used for the broth. A fresh bouquet garni of herbs from the garden was also added to the pot. The trick to getting a clear broth is to bring the pot to a rolling boil, then immediately turn it down to a simmer and allow it to cook for several hours. Make sure to add enough water at the onset as some of the liquid will evaporate during cooking.

Afterward, allow the broth to cool to room temperature. Strain the broth through a colander lined with a piece of cheesecloth. The broth can be refrigerated for a week for later use or can be placed in containers and frozen. Vegetable broth is also a soothing, nutritional drink for those suffering from colds and flu. Enjoy.