Use Ingredients from Your Garden to Create Soup Stock

Nourishing soups feed body and spirit, and you’ll have plenty of stock after you forage through the garden

Glean from your garden and then forage from your freezer to make delicious organic, immune-boosting, virtually no-cost stock

When we painstakingly tend soil and sow seeds to grow organic food in our backyard or container gardens, the expression “waste not, want not” takes on new meaning. All the care and loving attention we give our edible greenery means we don’t want to throw away a single leaf.

At our house, any garden veggie deemed too tough or rough-looking for a summer salad or fall stirfry is frozen for winter soups. Once it gets chilly, a simmering pot of stock on the stovetop keeps the house snug and our family fed.

Stock Ingredients

Whether they are gnarled or nibbled, you can wash and toss the following veggie scraps into plastic bags, mason jars or food-storage containers to freeze indefinitely for soup stock:

Garlic Stalks, Scapes, Bulbils and Cloves: Any bit adds flavour and healthy benefits.

Leathery Leek Layers: When washing, separate the layers, as they can trap soil.

Onion Skins and Ends: While they may look rough, these kitchen cast-offs add fabulous flavour.

Tough Kale Stems: Some cooks frown on adding anything from the brassica family to stock, but I’ve found that kale buds, flowers, tattered leaves and tough stems can be a delicious addition.

Add the greens and leftovers from root crops to the stock

Peelings: Save the skins of your carrots or potatoes; be sure to scrub the vegetables prior to paring.

Parsley, Thyme and Oregano Stems: For extra antioxidants and sumptuous taste.

Tomato Ends: If you will be turning the stock into a Mediterranean-inspired minestrone, add all the tomato leftovers on hand. If you’re going for udon, use just a few.

Celery Scraps: Here’s a great way to use any stringy leavings. If you’re not growing celery, throw in a leaf or two of lovage, a prolific perennial herb that is easy to grow and deer proof to boot. Dry the leaves in late summer for winter use.

Pea Pods and Green-bean Ends: Get every last bit of nourishment from these easy spring and summer crops.

Tops: Add carrot, turnip, beet, kohlrabi and radish greens.

Gone-to-seed: If parsley, parcel, cilantro or any other salad greens bolt, collect seeds to sow another crop, and then rinse, chop and freeze the plant.

Tips for Top-notch Stock

• Keep a good balance of greens to brassicas to oniony elements.
• If you eat meat or poultry, freeze bones or leftover bits along with your veggie discards. Add a splash of vinegar to the stock to draw the calcium from the bones.
• For those who prefer a “meaty” broth without the meat, the addition of a few mushrooms will add a savoury note.
• If you are lucky enough to have a bay tree, add a couple of the dried leaves; a snip of rosemary is welcome, too.
• Once all your ingredients are in the pot, fill it a few inches from the top with cold water. Bring to a vigorous boil and then simmer for up to two hours. Add sea salt and pepper to taste. When the stock has a nice aroma and flavour, turn off the heat. Cooking longer will not improve the taste.
• Cool for a few hours and then strain so that you are left with a clear golden liquid. (If meat was added, refrigerate overnight and remove any fat from the top the next day.) Refrigerate for up to five days or freeze for future use.

Throughout the winter, use the stock as a nourishing liquid when making rice or quinoa dishes, sauces and gravies and as a base for your favourite homemade consommé or chowder.

When the wind is wailing and the rain just won’t let up, there’s nothing more soul satisfying than a vitamin-rich bowl of steaming soup – especially when its goodness comes from the gleanings of your own garden.

Originally published in BC Home & Garden magazine. For regular updates, subscribe to our free Home and Garden e-newsletters, or purchase a subscription to the magazine.