2 Best Bone Broth Recipes for Eczema

To many people, bone broth seems like part of another fad diet that would go away after making its rounds, but not to us. In fact, bone broth has its origins entrenched in so many different cultures across the world. From ancient China to 12th century Egypt, from South America to the Jewish kitchen, brewed the best bone broth recipes to sooth the gut and heal all kinds of ailments.

In fact, there’s a South American saying, “A good broth will resurrect the dead”. Which we know is exaggerated, but I’m inclined to believe it does lots for our health. In this article, I will walk you through:

• the benefits of bone broth, especially for eczema warriors
• an explanation on the ingredients we use to make bone broth recipe
• our 2 great recipes: how we make bone broth for eczema
• what bone broth has done for my son with severe eczema

Benefits of Bone Broth for Eczema

Homemade bone broth gives maximum benefits, as you know it is made with love. It contains collagen, calcium and magnesium to strengthen your bones and keep the joints well-cushioned and healthy. Bone broth for eczema warriors, in particular, has these additional amazing effects:

Healing a leaky gut

For many eczema sufferers, and I believe for my son, J, with severe eczema, one root cause is a leaky gut, which allows substances to permeate the intestinal lining, and enter the bloodstream. Some partially digested foods, proteins, chemical additives, toxins, etc., that normal people are capable of keeping out of their system, actually circulate in eczema warriors’ system because of their compromised intestinal barrier.

This is also what leads to food allergies and sensitivities in people with eczema.

Bone broth soothes the gastrointestinal tract with the amino acids that it is rich in, and calms inflammation of the gut, thereby promoting a conducive environment for the growth of beneficial probiotics.

Boosts the immune system

Majority of our immune cells are actually found in the gut. When our intestinal health is weakened, so is our immunity. Working on soothing the gut also allows the immune cells to re-populate it, and thrive, thus doing their work in protecting us against viruses, bacteria, and other stuff.

Aids in skin repair

The glycine found in collagen is essential in producing connective tissue of the skin. This is something that eczema warriors need badly, as their skin health is compromised due to the undesirable substances that the body is trying to eliminate through the skin. Moreover, the rashing and itching usually means clawing and scratching until the skin breaks, so lots of glycine is needed for skin cell repair.

The ingredients we use to make bone broth recipe

I’m giving special attention to these main ingredients to make bone broth recipe, as it is important that these conditions are met, to reap the most out of the broth.

The bones

We use mainly beef bones, or chicken bones. I try not to use both in the same broth, as their cooking times are different.

Always be sure to ask about the source of the bones, where they come from. Go for free-ranging cows that feed on grass. Chickens too, the ideal is to get free-ranging ones that are given quality feed their whole life, not GMO (genetically-modified organism) corn.

You wouldn’t want to use bones from animals that are farmed in cramped conditions, and fed hormones and antibiotics. Because you’re going to extract all these as well, as the bones simmer for long hours. So the source is really important, go for reliable suppliers whom you can trust.

Look for bones with just a little meat on them, or joint bones, as these would have some cartilage and tendons on them. Marrow bones are great too. For chicken, the whole carcass is fine, or just parts of it. Chicken feet tend to produce a lot of collagen, so get those if you can.

An acid

A weak acid is needed to leach out the nutrients and minerals from the bones, like calcium and magnesium. For a regular healthy person, you can use apple cider vinegar. But for eczema warriors, we avoid it as apple cider vinegar is very high in salicylates. So we go for pure ascorbic acid (which is actually pure Vitamin C powder), or citric acid.

This step is important if long simmering time is a concern to you. Without adding an acid, I do between 24 to 30 hours for beef bones, and about 18 hours for chicken bones. With an acid, the beef bones simmering time can be reduced to 12 hours, and chicken bones to 6 hours.

This study sheds some light on acidity of bone broth and cooking time.

Vegetables

I like to keep things simple, plus the vegetables I use must be part of J’s eczema diet. So most of the times, I just use leeks, 3 whole stalks. It gives the broth a really sweet and rich fragrance.

If you would like to add more variety of vegetables, these are really great for eczema warriors, also part of The Eczema Diet that is nourishing and friendly to the gut:

• spring onions
• brussel sprouts
• celery
• garlic

It’s free and easy as to the type of vegetables and quantity that you would like to use. It also depends on the size of your pot, as well as your own taste and preference.

The 2 best bone broth recipes

These are the best bone broth recipes, to me, because they are hassle-free, which is really important to me. If something gets complicated and cumbersome, I would slowly lose the motivation to make it, and it would become not sustainable. So the fact that I’m still going strong, about 8 weeks since adding bone broth into J’s diet, has to show how simple it is.

Beef bone broth recipe

• 4 to 5 big chunks of beef bones (all sawed up by the butcher)
• 3.5 litres of filtered water
• half a teaspoon of ascorbic acid or citric acid (optional, but take note of longer cooking time if without acid)
• vegetables (your preference, choose from those listed in the above section)
• 1 teaspoon of sea salt (add at the end of the simmering)

Chicken bone broth recipe

• 2 chicken carcasses, or about 1.5 to 2 kg of chicken bones
• 3.5 litres of filtered water
• half a teaspoon of ascorbic acid or citric acid (optional, but take note of longer cooking time if without acid)
• vegetables (your preference, choose from those listed in the above section)
• 1 teaspoon of sea salt (add at the end of simmering)

Do note that you actually do not have to use so much bones, then just reduce the amount of water proportionately. I stick to 3.5 litres of water for each ‘brew’, because I want to make it last a week. J has his broth for dinner everyday, about half a litre in his soup bowl.

If you don’t drink so much, or you are making it to last for just a few days, then go ahead to reduce the amount.

The procedure

1. Wash the bones (can you believe sometimes I’m so lazy I skip this step!)
2. Put the bones into the pot, and add the filtered water.
3. Bring it to boil, and use a spoon to remove the scum that you see starting to form on the water surface.
4. Chop up the vegetables, add them in, together with the acid.
5. Bring it to a low simmer and leave for 30 hours for beef bones (12 hours if using acid), and 18 hours for chicken bones (6 hours if using acid). The simmer should be so low that you only get the occasional bubbling, and not constant happy bubbling.
6. At the end of the simmering, add salt.

The ‘canning’

When the broth is done simmering, discard the bones (do not throw away the oil, you will see they can be put to good use) and set the pot aside to cool for a few hours, before transferring the broth into containers that give you the right portion for each use.

I use mason glass jars, each taking the amount for 1 serving of soup. With the thick layer of oil sitting on the broth, I place all the jars in the refrigerator, and the oil will solidify overnight. Which is great, because it now forms a protective layer, so no part of the broth is in contact with air, so no bacteria can breed easily, and I can safely keep it for up to a week! This saves me the hassle of freezing and thawing.

Before I use the broth, I would simply remove the solid layer of oil with a spoon, and throw it into the bin. This is really neat, because I have tried removing the oil from the pot, before I discovered this method. The ladling of the oil can make the whole kitchen really messy and oily, not to mention all the oily utensils that you have to wash up afterward, it’s really no joke.

If you’re keeping the broth for a longer time, then please do make sure to freeze it, in freezer-safe containers. If you’re freezing the broth, I would suggest to remove the oil first, as that oil is not healthy. The broth can keep for 2 to 3 months in the freezer without any issue. And if you’re using only a small amount of broth each time, like in gravy, then you could actually freeze them in ice cube trays, and once they’re frozen hard, pop them into some container with a lid.

What bone broth has done for my son with eczema

It has done loads!

J’s eczema rashes and itch went right down. His chronic inflammation went right down. But of course at the same time, or in fact, for months prior to starting the bone broth, his diet was already very clean (no sugar, no processed foods, no dairy, no egg, no soy, no gluten, and eventually no grains as well). And as we started out on bone broth, I also started learning about Karen Fischer’s Eczema Diet in her book, which happens to include bone broth or veggie broth as well!

I believe the bone broth is doing its fantastic job of healing his gut. Moreover, it is a tasty and nutritious broth, which has all the other siblings feeling jealous at the special treatment. It is also a sort of ‘compensation’, if I may call it that, for J having to go through such a restrictive diet. It keeps him emotionally stable, as I can imagine how tough it is, how much self-discipline he must have to stick to this diet, with so many temptations around him.

So these are the best bone broth recipes, as they keep a busy mom happy and motivated when everything is kept simple, and keep an eczema warrior healing and happy too! I hope you like these recipes, do drop me a note in the comment if you have tried them, or if you have any other great bone broth recipes and tips!