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I read in a couple of places that marrow is a storage for an animal's toxins and I was wondering if anyone knows this is true and to what extent? Is there a significant risk with cooking with bones and marrow even from good sources, or grass-fed sources?

Is there a significant amount of potassium and magnesium in the bones alone?

Also, something important, I read that in order to get enough calcium from this you have to cook the broth for somewhere near 18 hours? Does anyone know if this is true? Does cooking for periods of time destroy the B12, selenium, etc? I know Potassium and Magnesium are intact through cooking.

And one last thing, does the broth contain a significant amount of cholesterol? I'll just portion it of course if it does I just wanted to know.

I would do all this research again but I did it while I was really busy and I am currently really busy right now and I just wanted to know if anyone knew this information. Thank you for anyone who has any advice or who has tried to help.

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4 Answers

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I use a slow cooker to cook bone broth. I generally load it in the evening after dinner then it's done the next day in the evening. If I want some of the bone broth for dinner, I go ahead and use it. Otherwise, I wait until after dinner, so it's been about 24 hours. I never let it go less than about 20 hours.

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Ideally, I use slow-cook/chill cycles to make bone broth. I don't bother with math.

Day one: bones, celery & onion barely covered with water, cook 8-12 hours then let cool to room temp and put in fridge
Day 2: cook about 3 hours (bubbly) then add meat & veggies and cook 3-8 hours; cool and chill
(can eat at that point but I usually wait for the 3rd day)
Day 3: cook until bubbly and add final veggies (cabbage for me); cook til cabbage is done and EAT!
Storage: I don't freeze my broth stews. I keep them in the fridge and re-heat every 4-5 days. Every day, I either eat a portion of the stew by itself or add into a skillet meal.

The advantage of my "eternal" stews is that I can keep adding whatever I feel hungry for until the stew is finally gone. Then it's time to start a new cycle with bones. Sometimes the fat runs out before the stew is gone so I just add some butter to the mix--yummy!

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I haven't heard of this cold chilling method before, what is the advantage? I do the same thing with reheating my broths every 4-5 days rather than freezing. – Rhubarb Dec 6 2011 at 23:35
Many centuries ago, when I was a child in New England, my mother made the famous New England boiled dinner. She fixed it in a huge pot in a morning-'til-night slow-cooking. After we ate and it cooled, she put it in the fridge and we re-heated it every night. We all agreed that it had much better taste after the chilling and re-heating and only got better with every repitition. Try it some time and see what you think, but I strongly prefer broth-based stews after they've been chilled and re-heated at least once. – Nance Dec 7 2011 at 0:03
Thanks for the reply, I'll keep it mind! – Rhubarb Dec 7 2011 at 2:37
Oh, I can hardly wait. That sounds fantabulous! :9 – November Dec 7 2011 at 5:52
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I always cook my broths for 24hrs - this leaches the most vitamins out of the bones and is yummmmmmy

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Toxins get stored all over the place, fat particularly, best way to avoid them is to eat a healthy, well-raised animal. There are risks of course, but if the alternative is to starve then I think we can handle a few toxins - the same way the other animals do.

I can't speak to the specifics, but you do want to let your broth cook for a good long time, 18hours would seem a good minimum to me.

Why would you be concerned about the cholesterol? More magic marrow goodness.

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