Garden Leftovers and last meadow Wild Edible Plants

It’s time for Fall garden clean up: looks like my vegetable garden fell into neglect, but it’s still giving a lot of unusual ingredients with which I plan to make a homemade vegetable broth powder, to begin with!

Given my strong tendency to keep gawking at wild edibles everywhere, I cannot help but add some unusual ingredient … don’t you think ?

Garden leftovers: healthy vegetable broth powder, tasty and with no additives!
Garden leftovers: healthy vegetable broth powder, tasty and with no additives!

Homemade Vegetable Broth Powder with a wild touch

Stinging Nettle: spots of fresh Nettle, growing again after the last cut, are waiting for latecomer foragers. Here I am! They will give a wild character to the mixture and a good mineral source.

Two taste allies: Nettle, distinctive taste + tomato, for umami taste
Two taste allies: Nettle, distinctive taste + tomato, for umami taste

Hogweed: inviting umbels loaded with dry fruits are looking at me from neglected meadows. They will give a spicy taste at my broth powder..

Mushroom powder: Shingled hedgehog (Sarcodon imbricatus) has a firm, pale brownish flesh and an intense aroma. The dried mushroom, once powdered, is commonly used as a seasoning.

Tomatoes: this, though not properly an alpine edible, goes for the fifth taste: the UMAMI (reason why commercial vegetable stock powder contains glutamate). Tomatoes are one of the glutamate-richer vegetables.

And now, the vegetable garden: carrot leaves, chives, broccoli leaves, celery leaves. All of them are edible and too often are thrown in the composter when autumn comes.

Not today! I will use them all for my healthy vegetable broth powder, with no additives or preservatives whatsoever. How? With my dehydrator!

Nettle, Carrot leaves, Broccoli leaves, Celery leaves, etc… No waste in the vegetable garden!
Nettle, Carrot leaves, Broccoli leaves, Celery leaves, etc… No waste vegetable garden!

Vegetable Broth Powder recipe

Ingredients:

  • Carrots
  • Potatoes
  • Carrot leaves
  • Broccoli leaves
  • Celery leaves
  • Chives (or Onion)
  • Nettle leaves (Urtica dioica)
  • Hogweed fruits (Heracleum sphondylium)
  • Shingled hedgehog (Sarcodon imbricatus) powder
  • Tomatoes
  • Coarse salt

Directions:

I did not metion the weight of vegetables, because it depends on your garden leftovers and your taste. This is only a hint to let you experiment your perfect broth powder!

Wash vegetables and peel potatoes. Slice potatoes and carrots into ¼” rounds. Put all of the vegetables in the dehydrator, following your model instructions (it will take about 8-10 hours).

Easy with the dehydrator! If you do not have one, you can let them dry in a convection oven at 120-140 °F, leaving the door ajar
Easy with the dehydrator! If you do not have one, you can let them dry in a convection oven at 120-140 °F, leaving the door ajar

I used different trays for each one, in order to better mix them at the end. Once your vegetables are done, add them to a blender and whizz around until you get a powder consistency.

Now’s the fun: make the perfect mixture, add salt and blend in the food processor.

Store in an airtight jar, in the pantry, away from light or moisture. It will be a nice gift for christmas!

Vegetable Broth Powder DIY

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