Vegetable Bouillon (from your garden harvest)

This is an easy way to make vegetable bouillon from fresh vegetables you get from your garden or farmers market.
I am so into my dehydrator these days. Ever since I learned how to make tomato powder by dehydrating fresh garden tomatoes and then grinding them into a powder, I’ve been hooked. Now I’ve tackled homemade vegetable bouillon. This ties into another project I’ve been dying to try…diy savory tea bags like those delicious Numi teas (affiliate link) I like so much.

I came across this recipe from Tales of a Kitchen and thought I’d make it my own. Basically you take 2 carrots, 2 ribs of celery, 1 onion, a few pieces of purple cabbage, a bunch of parsley and a few mushrooms and you dehydrate them till they are brittle. Then you whiz them in a high speed blender, food processor or coffee grinder if you have one. Mine of course has too much coffee residue so I just used my Vitamix. Then you add a few more seasonings like salt, turmeric, cayenne, black pepper, granulated garlic and nutmeg and your bouillon is complete. I could have done the garlic in the dehydrator but I didn’t want the whole house to smell like garlic since my MIL hates that smell. I think next time I’d like to add ginger too.

Here’s what they looked like dried. It’s a little disheartening seeing all those veggies getting ground down to a powder. But it did make a lot of bouillon. I filled a 4oz jelly jar and an addition half of a baggie with the powder.

Lastly I’ve read a few recipes that recommend that you freeze your goodies for a few days or a week to kill any bugs that might have been on your produce. I can’t imagine they would survive a good washing and the dehydrator but just to be safe I’m freezing mine for a few days.

Make Your own Vegetable bouillon

So now the big question: Why would anyone want to do this? This is what my hubby asked me. He’s inthralled with the dehydrator too and loves when I use veggies from our garden. I did it because there are times when my stomach does not feel well and I’m hungry but afraid to eat food because I know it’s best to let my stomach rest. Or there are times when I just want to eat something between meals and I don’t feel like drinking anything sweet. I want something savory to sip on. On both of these occasions I think it would be perfect to have a cup of bone broth with a teaspoon of this delicious homemade veggie broth. I think it will be healthy and satisfying and tasty.

Also I think it will be great in the winter time when it’s cold and I want something to warm me up. And what about dieting? How great would it be to sip on an extremely low calorie, healthy, delicious broth! Those are the reasons I wanted to do this. My hubby still doesn’t get it but I do and that’s all that counts. 😉

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Recipe: Vegetable Bouillon (from your garden harvest)

This is an easy way to make vegetable bouillon from fresh vegetables you get from your garden or farmers market.

Author Denise Wright (MyLifeCookbook.com)

Ingredients

• 2 carrots
• 2 celery stalks
• 1 onion
• 2 to matoes
• handful parsley
• purple cabbage leaves
• 4 or 5 mushrooms
• 2 teaspoons sea salt
• 2 teaspoons turmeric
• 1 teaspoon granulated garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne powder

Instructions

1. Slice all veggies very thin. I used a mandolin.
2. Place on 5 or 6 racks of your dehydrator.
3. Set dehydrator to 135 degrees for 6 to 8 hours.
4. Check your veggies as different ones will dry faster than others. The tomatoes and onions took the longest for me.
5. Take out veggies as they seem dry and brittle. You don't want them to be soft and chewy looking.
6. Once they are all done, grind in a high speed blender, food processor or coffee grinder.
7. Store in the freezer for a few days as a safety precaution.
8. Should be shelf stable or keep refrigerated if you prefer.