Vegetable Scrap Broth Powder
Kitchen trimmings dried, ground, and carried as a hot drink for cold camps.
- calories
- 150
- weight
- 0.8 oz
- cal / oz
- 188
- protein
- 2 g
- serves
- 1, scales
- prep
- 2 min
- cook
- 3 min
- total time
- 5 min
- water
- 400 ml boiled
- cost
- $
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Drink
- Snack
- Canister stove
- Alcohol / Esbit
- Liquid fuel
- Backpacking
- Winter / snow
- Basecamp
- Thru-hike
- Vegetarian
- Vegan
- Gluten free
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Dehydrate ahead
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Vegetable scraps | 4 cups loosely packed | onion skins, carrot peels, celery ends, leek tops, mushroom stems, beet greens, herb stems |
|---|---|---|
| Salt | 1 tsp per finished 1/4 cup of powder | |
| Garlic powder | 1/2 tsp | |
| Black pepper | 1/4 tsp | |
| Olive oil | 1 tbsp | carried in a dropper bottle, added at camp |
Method
- At home: spread clean scraps in a single layer and dry them at 125F until they snap instead of bending, eight to twelve hours. A low oven with the door cracked works.
- Grind the dried scraps to a coarse powder in a blender or spice grinder. Sift out any woody bits that refuse to break down.
- Stir in salt, garlic powder, and pepper. Portion two tablespoons of powder per serving.
- At camp: boil 400 ml of water, kill the heat, and whisk in one portion. Let it sit two minutes so the powder rehydrates instead of sinking.
- Pour the olive oil in last and drink it straight from the pot.
Real stock is scraps, water, and thirty minutes of simmering, then you throw the solids away. That is backwards for the trail, where water is the heaviest thing you own. Drying the scraps first and grinding them means you carry the flavor and leave the water at home. You are eating the solids instead of straining them out, which is why the grind has to be fine.
Skip anything bitter or already going soft. Brassica trimmings and old lettuce turn sulfurous when concentrated. The olive oil goes in at camp rather than the powder because fat in a dry mix goes rancid in a pack within a couple of weeks.
Packing
Powder goes in a small zip bag inside a second bag, since it picks up moisture fast and clumps into a brick. Oil rides separately in a leakproof dropper bottle.
Variations
- Stir in a tablespoon of miso paste off the heat for salt, body, and a little protein.
- Add instant potato flakes and it stops being a drink and becomes dinner.
- Dried mushroom stems ground fine give the deepest flavor. Weight them heavier than the peels.
https://morningchores.com/food-scraps-uses