Question
Louise Carruth
Some recipes call for stock, while others call for broth. What is the difference and can I substitute one for the other?
Answer
So, uh, in terms of vegetables, there's only, there's just vegetable. You can call it vegetable stock or vegetable broth. Um, some, uh, manufacturers will call plant, plant-based, um, stock stock because it's a little bit thicker. Stocks are generally made from bones where there's a lot of collagen, so that's why it's called stock. And broth is usually made from, um, whatever, a piece of meat. So go to the vegetable realm and they're just vegetables. Some companies will add agar to make it a little bit thicker. Um, but I, in the vegetable world, a plant and a stock, a stock and a, and a broth rather, are essentially the same thing. I say this, save all your vegetable scraps, make your own. And again, I have to turn to this beautiful color of this, um, broth, stock leftover vegetables I made. Um, and I keep it in the fridge and pour it if I wanna make a quick soup or whatever. So that's essentially the difference. Again, read the labels. My caution about, um, readymade, uh, stock or broth is that some of them have so much sodium in them. Some of them have 756 milligrams of sodium in a cup of stock. And if the World Health Organization is telling you that we should not be eating more than 1500 milligrams of salt a day, that one cup is 50% of your salt intake. And when I make stock, I never put any salt in it. I just let the vegetables cook down on their own. And I also include, um, things like onion skins and all of the skins. I rarely, uh, really peel vegetables, but I always save the onion skins cuz it really helps to create a very earthy flavor.
