By Erin Losie
No, I’m not talking about purchasing company stock for the baby, you’ll have to check out financial sites for that! I’m talking about stock made from animal bones! YUM!
After having great success with baby girl’s first food of egg yolk, I was anxious to try something else! I feed her just the egg yolk, in addition to mother’s milk, for three to days to ensure she’d not have any adverse reactions. She was fine so I decide to move on to stock.
Stock, especially homemade stock, is great for digestive health, not only in babies, but in adults too. The gelatin in stock stimulates and supports digestion and stomach health. Stock is also very high in minerals. This makes stock a great first food for babies—it’s great for them and it helps digestion! A win-win!
Given it’s all it’s benefits I’ve started incorporating more stock in my diet. This is actually a common theme with me since I’ve started down this path of baby foods. I realize how good something is for the human body and since I’m making it for the baby, I may as well make some for my husband and me!
First up in the stock department is Beef Stock. I headed to Harvey’s Market, in Union Market, to find marrowbones and ox tail, to make the broth. They had both on display and since these are not a sought after items, they were not expensive.
Note! Make sure the bones will fit into your slow cooker. If not, Harvey’s will cut them for you.
Marrowbone
Ox Tail
To make the broth, I once again generally followed the recipe in Super Nutrition for Babies by Dr. Katherine Erlich, M.D. and Kelly Genzliner, C.N.C, C.M.T.A. I put the bones in the crock pot with some vinegar and enough water to cover the bones, for me this filled-up the pot, and let it sit for about an hour. The vinegar helps pull the nutrients from the bones. After an hour I turned on the slow cooker and let it cook for 12 hours.
Beef Broth Finished!
Cooked Bones
I then strained it with cheesecloth.
Strained Beef Broth
Once it cooled, I put it in the refrigerator overnight to gel the fat.
Beef Broth Fat
I broke the fat up and put into a container, to store in the refridgerator, to use as cooking fat.
Cooking Fat!
I then poured most of it in ice cube tray and froze it. This makes for easy storage and a quick way to feed the baby.
Beef Broth in Ice Cube Tray
A word of warning; I expected this stock to taste like the beef stock I buy at the store. It does not! It’s much richer and gamier. Also, it’s probably the way I made it, but it did not produce that dark color, I am used to associating with beef broth.
I kept some of the broth out to feed immediately to the baby. When her mealtime arrived I gave her an egg to put her in a good mood and then I tried the beef broth. Again, after a few funny looks she decided she liked it and after a few days she loved it! And still does!
Stock for the Baby Recipe!
- 1 pound (or so) of Marrowbone
- 1 pound (or so) of Ox Tail
- 1 TBS of Vinegar
- Put the bones in a crockpot.
- Put the vinegar in the crockpot.
- Pour in enough water to cover the bones and fill-up the pot
- Let the sit for about an hour
- Turn the crockpot on low and cook for about 12 hours
- Let cool (put in the refrigerator, to make the fat easier to take off)
- Skim fat off the top (place in a container and place in refrigerator. Use as cooking fat!)
- Pull out the bones
- Filter the broth through cheesecloth until the bones and particles are gone (I had to do this 3 times)
- Serve, place in the refrigerator, or freeze.