Benefits of Bones

This week I'll be covering the seemingly gross world of bones and offal. Today we'll start with bones. Most of us don't regularly use bones in the kitchen (most actually probably never had), but there are many benefits to eating bone marrow or just by cooking with it.  Bones seem like something you see on the travel channel with Andrew Zimmerman or Anthony Bourdain eating, or that you would see in some exotic Asian country where they use the whole animal. What's great about bones is not only are they good for you, but they're pretty inexpensive as well, so just throw them in a homemade broth! What are these benefits? A summary of The Benefits of Bone Broth are listed here:


1. Promotes healing: Bone broths have been used successfully in treating gastro-intestinal disorders, including hyper-acidity, colitis, Crohn's disease, and infant diarrhea.
2. Digestive aid: Aids in the digestibility of vegetables and meats and is hydrophilic in nature
3. Macro minerals: Contains highly absorbable forms of the calcium, magnesium, potassium, phosphorus, sulfur and fluoride as well as trace minerals
4. Gelatin and Collagen: rich in both; promoting bone and joint healing in addition to supporting digestion
5. Protein: adds easily digestible protein to your diet
6. Amino acids: Glycine, proline, hydroxyproline, and lysine are formed, which is important to detoxification and amino acid production in the body
7. Joint support: Glucosamine, chondroitin sulfate, and hyaluronic acid are produced and present for additional muscle and joint support
8. Immune system: Promotes the assimilation of vitamins and minerals and thus supports the immune system
9. Delicious and nutritious: use as soup, cooking liquid, sauce or as a tea.
10. Synergy: Finally by initially healing the GI tract, broth creates an environment for all of the nutrients being taken in, whether by food or supplementation, to increase their bio-availability to your body.
  Now that you know the benefits, how do you use them? Make a stock with them. or you can eat the bone marrow (made up of osteoblasts, adipocytes, fibroblasts, and osteoclasts). To prepare set the bones upright on foil for 15 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit. When they begin to bubble they're ready. Many consider bone marrow a delicacy, but if you're not quite up to it, I'd suggest throwing some bones in your next soup stock.