Here’s how a herbalist makes a real winner of a vegan broth! Filled with herbs that possess immune fortifying, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and pungent qualities, this is the broth recipe you’ve been waiting for to boost your health and become your most sacred kitchen staple.
All about the broth
One the best ways to nourish your body and mind is with a well honed broth or stock recipe. Broths are often meat based, so this really is more of a stock, but I guess you can say the mushrooms and the herbs bring such great meaty nutrition that I though this would pass for a broth! Over the past decade or so, the humble broth has really made a comeback and I love that way we can create our own flavourings and bases this way, rather than relying on nutrient-poor, commercial powders and the like. The allure of vegetable broths especially has surged in popularity as we think about being more sustainable as well as being more health-conscious around our eating. Many of us are embracing this flavourful kitchen staple, crafted from a medley of fresh vegetables and aromatic herbs. This shift is not merely a culinary preference but a strategic choice to fortify health, aiming to stave off ailments and elevate overall well-being. I always recommend aiming for a medicinal diet, even if you’re really healthy anyway, its your best medicine and the best preventive to future illness or disharmonies in your internal landscape.
(Sze, 2023)
The benefits of a herbal broth
Here are some of the reasons why a herbal broth is considered so nourishing that it is really a ‘medicinal’ food.
- Nutritious: Vegetarian broths are the perfect way to nourish your tissues, bones and fluids, drawing all the goodness from wholesome vegetables and herbs that are traditionally used to boost and replenish our weary bodies. Also, vegetables like carrot, Ginger and Celery are rich in essential vitamins and minerals so you can think of this broth as your daily tonic.
- Versatility: You can use them in so many ways. See my suggestions below!
- Purification: This broth recipe contains vegetables and herbs that stimulate your detoxification systems and cleanse you from the inside out, like Ginger, Garlic, Celery and Turmeric. Perfect for Springtime, and Winter when your body has more stagnation from the cooler months that it needs to shed.
- Fewer Calories: Meat-based broths have more protein, but vegan ones have fewer calories which means they’re the perfect form of nourishment for anyone on a low calorie diet. For example, perimenopause will often require a low calorie diet to avoid weight gain, and these are the sorts of foods that can help you maintain healthy weight as you move towards menopause.
- Assisting Weight Loss: You can use a broth like this to flavour, spice and complement your meals, and know also that herbs like Ginger and Chives have a vitality to them, that can give you the energy you need so you don’t crave other (more naughty) foods for energy.
- Agni boosting: The combination of warming, pungent and bitter vegetables and herbs (that is nicely balanced with other tastes too!) means that you’ll be stimulating your stomach function the moment this delightful soup hits your tongue. It’s also calming on digestion, and perfect for people with food sensitivies (just check there’s nothing in here thats not suitable first, and remove it). We often think about eating for our immunity, or weight, or skin….but how about eating well for our guts 🙂
- Immune Nourishing: I’ve put some goodies in here for you, which you can find at your local Chinese or Oriental Grocery or Emporium. But if you can’t find them, even just the vegetables on their own will provide some support to your immune system which I believe needs ‘nourishment’ much more than it needs ‘boosting’.
- High water content: Think about your broth as contributing to your daily water intake. That’s 30mL water required for every Kg of body weight (i.e if you weigh 60Kg then you need 1.8L water daily. Broths can be a delicious way to ensure you’re getting the fluids you need.
- Supports Joint Health: With the Shiitake mushrooms, Ginger and Turmeric (+ Black Pepper for absorption) you have an anti-inflammatory healing broth. These herbs have been found to support joint health naturally by reducing inflammation.
How to make my medicinal herbal healing broth:
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Vegan Herbal Healing Broth
Equipment
- 1 Large pot
- 1 Large sieve
Ingredients
- 2 onions (quartered)
- 2 cloves garlic
- 2 carrots (roughly chopped)
- 1 corn (chopped into 3 parts)
- 6-8 dried Shiitake mushrooms
- 2 shoots Spring onions
- 4 fresh Bay leaves
- 2-3 fresh Sage leaves
- 3 chunks Broccoli
- 2-3 sprigs fresh Thyme
- 4 stalks Celery (chopped)
- 10 cm length Ginger rhizome sliced in half
- 1/2 tsp Turmeric powder or use fresh Turmeric, 10cm length
- 1 cup Medicinal Herbs (Astragalus, Dan Shen, Cordyceps, Goji berry, Longan berry, Snow Fungus, Lotus seed, Fox Nut, Chinese Yam) (dried)
- 2.5 L water
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients in a large pot.
- Pour on water, bring to boil and then simmer for 1 hour.
- Strain and store in fridge for up to 2 days or freeze for future use.
How to use your broth
So you’ve made it an now you’re looking for all the different ways you can use your delicious gravy! Here are my favourites. I like to strain my broths and stocks and pour them into oversized ice cube trays, freezing them for future use in:
- Casseroles
- Flavoured rice
- Stews
- Sauces
- Risotto
- Adding to water to boil vegetables and legumes
- In place of commercial stock powders which are less nutritious
- Soups
- Stir fries
Broths are really the best way to nourish your body in a nutritionally balanced way. You’ll be getting minerals, vitamins, all those medicinal chemical constituents we find in medicinal foods like Shiitake mushroom, Astragalus, Ginger and Celery, along with natural fatty acids. The cleansing aspects of this broth will bring a medicinal flavour and action to your every day cooking. Enjoy!
Hey there! Welcome to my world of totally natural and powerful healing medicines. Medicines from nature. Medicine from Source. I’m a naturopath and herbalist with extensive clinical experience working with a range of health conditions including hormonal, metabolic, mental health, sleep and more.
I’ve brought together years of clinical and teaching experience, academic skill and curiosity to bring you this blog. I hope you enjoy it! If you do, leave a comment, I’d love to hear from you!
