social

Homemade Vegetable Bouillon


Bronze Feedback Medal for All Time! 170 Feedbacks
February 13, 2018

Homemade Vegetable Bouillon in cupFresh vegetables sometimes get soft or soggy before we use them, right? Spinach always does and bell peppers often do. Even celery gets limp after a while, particularly for those of us who buy it by the bunch. What to do so as not to waste hard-earned money? Freeze those veggies. Chop them up to save time later, remove cores (but not necessarily seeds) from peppers, cut off any small discoloured bits, put them in a bag and stick 'em in the freezer. Tough stems of broccoli and asparagus, even the cores of cauliflower and cabbage. Chop and freeze. Leftover veg after dinner? Not enough for another serving? Bag and freeze. Even a bit of leftover cooked rice needn't be thrown away. Bag and freeze.

Advertisement

"Past prime" doesn't mean "without nutritive value." It only means those lovely vegetables aren't as pretty as when we bought them.

A terrific option is to make your own bouillon. This may be particularly appealing to anyone who, like me, is fed up with seeing high fructose corn syrup (or re-named derivatives) on prepared food labels. Bouillon for cooking and making an instant mug of soup is very handy to have, however, so why not make your own? The process is amazingly simple, and doesn't take much time at all. Best of all, you know precisely what's in the mix!

Ingredients:

  • Any frozen extra vegetables

Steps:

  1. Thaw those vegetables and use the pulse setting on your food processor to chop them into a fairly fine consistency. I've gone overboard a couple of times and pureed by accident, but it wasn't a problem. The first time doing this, I used my dehydrator, but what a mess. Using a silicone mat on a baking sheet works just as well and cleanup is far easier.
  2. veggies in food processor
     
    Advertisement

  3. Spread chopped veg evenly on the baking sheet and pop into a 200°F oven for 2 - 3 hours. Turn the oven off and allow to cool. Check the consistency. If still a bit damp or soft, turn oven to 170° for another hour or two until everything is dried. Break the pieces apart a bit and use a small food processor or grinder to chop everything to a coarse powder.
  4. blended veggies on baking sheet
     
  5. Place a small sieve or colander in a bowl or large mug and pour the contents of the grinder into the sieve. Stir to separate: the powder falls through and the larger bits easily go back into the grinder. Process again until everything is ground up.
  6. rubbing veggies thru sieve
     
    Advertisement

  7. Funnel into an air-tight jar for storage.
  8. putting bouillon in jar
     
  9. Add a tablespoon to a mug of boiling water for instant soup.
  10. Vegetable Bouillon in jar
     

This also works great on other frozen leftovers, particularly those we somehow forgot at the bottom or back of the freezer.

To avoid the little bags getting lost in the freezer, particularly if you have a big deep freeze in addition to the one in your refrigerator, designate an area or plastic container for just vegetables. When that container gets full, you know it's time to make something.

To use, simply add to soup or stew. If you took the time to chop before freezing, simply dump the frozen vegetables into the pot.

Comments


Diamond Post Medal for All Time! 1,246 Posts
February 13, 20181 found this helpful

Love it, Rose Anne. Using up things you might chuck in the bin AND this is rather healthy! I'm a big fan. :)

 

Gold Post Medal for All Time! 677 Posts
February 14, 20180 found this helpful

Great idea.

 

Bronze Feedback Medal for All Time! 170 Feedbacks
February 14, 20180 found this helpful

Thanks, Darlin! I've been playing around, doing the same thing with a few leftovers ... some nice flavours!

 

Bronze Feedback Medal for All Time! 170 Feedbacks
February 14, 20180 found this helpful

Thanks, Judy!

 
Read More Comments
Categories
Food and Recipes Recipes Convenience MixesFebruary 14, 2020
Pages
More
🌻
Gardening
😎
Summer Ideas!
🎆
Fourth of July Ideas!
Facebook
Pinterest
YouTube
Instagram
Categories
Better LivingBudget & FinanceBusiness and LegalComputersConsumer AdviceCoronavirusCraftsEducationEntertainmentFood and RecipesHealth & BeautyHolidays and PartiesHome and GardenMake Your OwnOrganizingParentingPetsPhotosTravel and RecreationWeddings
Published by ThriftyFun.
Desktop Page | View Mobile
Disclaimer | Privacy Policy | Contact Us
Generated 2024-07-02 19:15:26 in 5 secs. ⛅️️
© 1997-2024 by Cumuli, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
https://www.thriftyfun.com/Homemade-Vegetable-Bouillon-1.html