Homemade Vegetable Stock Powder

On my journey of Getting to Health I have had to look hard at how I live my life and try to remove all the toxins and other things that weren’t doing me any favours. I’ve always enjoyed growing and cooking my own food as much as possible but when working full time as well, I had (as most of us do) quite a range of things that made it relatively quick and easy to produce tasty food, such as ready-made sauces, marinades and dressings, pre-prepared ginger, garlic and other condiments, and stock cubes. It wasn’t until I looked at them with fresh eyes that I really realised how many preservatives and other less desirable additives were involved in providing this convenience. Last time I shared a recipe for Homemade Chicken Stock Powder; this post shares a recipe for Homemade Vegetable Stock Powder.

Making your own vegetable stock powder means that not only can you avoid any nasties but you can also make it entirely to your own preferences. If you are on a FODMAP diet you can leave out the onions and garlic. You can adjust how much salt you want to include. I describe a basic mix of ingredients and give some examples of optional extras you might want to add. The recipe is really flexible so you can use up whatever you have in your fridge or in the garden.

2 large carrots
6 celery sticks
1 large leek
2 onions
8-10 mushrooms
8 garlic cloves
2 tbsp salt

Optional ingredients:
2-3 tomatoes
1 red capsicum
1 thumb-sized piece fresh ginger
1 thumb-sized piece fresh turmeric
Large handful fresh parsley
Large handful fresh basil
2-4 sprigs thyme
1-2 sprigs rosemary
8 fresh sage leaves
2 tbsp nutritional yeast

Finely shred or chop herbs and vegetables in a food processor (the smaller the pieces, the faster they will dry).

Spread the chopped ingredients thinly onto dehydrator trays.

Dry at 50C until completely dry, and then allow to cool for a couple of hours.

Put the dried ingredients into a spice grinder or blender along with the salt and yeast. Blitz to a fine powder.

Store in an airtight jar.

To Use: 1 tbsp Homemade Vegetable Stock per 1 cup water