making stock

I posted about making stock last January but Sunday night when I started to boil some veggies for a vegetable stock I was struck by the beauty of all these bits and pieces in the pot. I can easily identify onions, garlic, zucchini, lemon grass, and red pepper in this picture, but as I keep a bag of veggie waste in the freezer I don't always remember what is in there but I'm sure there are also carrots, celery, red & green chilies, and japanese eggplant. I usually add bay leaf, salt, pepper, and may in this case mustard seed. The stock turned out dark and rich looking.

I frequently mix my bones and veggies for a combo-stock but I decided to go veg this time. If you are a backyard or worm bin compost keep them separate but in Seattle we now have curbside compost pickup. As it's an industrial compost process you can mix dariy, bones, fruit and veg. For more information on Seattle composting click here.