Homemade Bone Broth Boullion - Expectation vs. reality

I had to clear out our freezer of all the soup bones, and tried my hand at this ‘portable soup’ recipe. After lovingly attending the simmering stock for several days, I got distracted at the very end and I think I accidentally made...glue? It was really sticky, and hilarious! I crack up every time I look at my attempt at bone broth boullion!

Luckily I was actually able to add water and reconstitute some of the ‘glue’ and make some jello-like portable soup out of it. (The third pic).

Rose Lee wrote:I had to clear out our freezer of all the soup bones, and tried my hand at this ‘portable soup’ recipe. After lovingly attending the simmering stock for several days, I got distracted at the very end and I think I accidentally made...glue?

Rose, how interesting! That glue is gelatin, the same wonderful animal protein folks take for their hair and finger nails. I always look for a good gel with my bone broth, so I know it's rich in minerals.

I follow the blog of a former chef now homesteader who makes her own bouillon from bone broth. I couldn't find directions on her blog, other than she uses a jelly roll screen in her dehydrator to make it. I've never tried it, though.

Rose, thanks for sharing your experience with the ‘portable soup’ recipe.  I had never heard of it and love the idea!

Leigh, thanks for explaining about gelatine.  I never thought of making it at home. I thought it came from hooves.

I remember reading several years ago about a product that the pioneers on wagon trains carried with them that was the forerunner of the bullion cubes. I tried to find what it was called and found it here:

http://www.oregonpioneers.com/FoodChoices.htm

The biscuits resembled a light colored cake and were packed in airtight casks or tin cannisters. Both meat biscuits and portable soup were forerunners of today's bouillon cube.

It was the Meat Biscuits.  I bet they were some sort of dehydrated product.

Thanks again for the interesting topic.

I made portable soup once, and I seem to remember it was pretty good. I think I over-dried mine, though, and made more of bouillon crystals. However, Townsends has several very good tutorials:

Meat leather!  Awesome!

I do something similar with my bone broth though not to quite that level. Mine is somewhat like the first picture in consistency but I just leave it in a jar and spoon it out as needed or freeze in silicone ice cube trays and store them in a freezer bag. I have found it to be the most space efficient option for me and I highly recommend it to everyone! Well done.