Canning Chicken Broth

I'm trying to clear scraps of stuff out of the freezer.  It started with having leftovers for lunch.  I'm going to make a quiche with the last pie crust.  I think I've cooked up all the half-bags of frozen veggies.  Next up was the overly filled broth bag and accumulated chicken bones.

The Ball book gives quantities for broth bones versus water, which is missing in the NCHFP website.  They suggest boiling up a whole chicken to get a gallon of broth (one pound per quart), but I already have shredded chicken in the freezer and didn't want to compound the problem by shredding up another one.  To make up the weight, I bought chicken backs at Whole Foods.  I only go there when I need something I absolutely can't get anywhere else.  I didn't even have to ask the butcher; they were sitting in the poultry case next to hearts, livers, and feet.  Yes, it was $2.99 a pound for something that normally gets thrown away, but I did not want any extra meat.  So, instead of this project being completely free, it was about $5.  Still not bad, when a quart of the cheapest broth is $2 and I was making four of those.

Ok, $5 plus a case of jars.  I'm starting to understand how pressure-canner people end up with so many jars.  It isn't that they're making too much product, but that every jar you use is a jar or metal can you're not buying at the market.  And as long as you have to process at least four jars at a time, you might as well do as many as you can reasonably use in a year.  It takes the same 2-3 hours to do four jars as eighteen.  Plus, they're reusable, as opposed to a metal one that's going straight into the recycling bin.  When I was doing small batches of jams and sauces in the water bath, I did not appreciate this logic.  I was also using smaller jars, so I have plenty of those for water bath recipes and not many pints and quarts.  I give it about a year until I have the right amount of each size.

The broth-making process itself is the same as if you're making it for not-canning.  Simmer the bones for a couple of hours, add the aromatics, and simmer another hour or two.  I did try the trick of adding an ounce of apple cider vinegar to dissolve the marrow and cartilage that make "bone broth".  Strain out the solids, chill so any impurities sink and the fat hardens, strain again back into the pot, and reheat for use.  The difference is that once I got it back to a boil, I put it in jars and pressured canned them.

You're probably thinking the same thing I was when I finally got the broth strained into three containers for the fridge: why on earth do I need a gallon of chicken broth?  For one thing, it's good for a year.  Also, look at the calendar.  It's that time of year for soups, casseroles, and all sorts of good things that require chicken broth.  Instead of buying two at a time over the course of a few months, I'm making eight.  Same amount, just all at once.  If there's any left in the spring, I'll make a big pot of soup for Seder.

Once I have a couple more pounds of beef bones, I plan to do a smaller batch of beef broth and make up the rest of the canner load with veggie broth to finish off that part of the freezer.  That will save me time in the long run, even though veggie broth makes the house smell fantastic.  I can just pop one open and go.