Eating bones

Many traditional cultures ate bones. Eating the soft bones in fish is something I was told to eat as a kid. A Haitian friend told me his parents made him eat the soft chicken bones when he was growing up.  I remember reading that some Native Americans would grind larger, denser bones into powder. I believe it was suggested that they  did this because they were in regions without access to good calcium sources from fish(in the plains region, if I remember correctly).

My memory is hazy on this Native American info, but I think I either read it in a Sally Fallon book or from one of these companies that sells bone meal for human consumption(Heart and Soil, Ancestral Supplements).

Currently, my mom takes a bone meal supplement in capsules to manage her bone density. She used to have an issue with calcium and bone density and since taking a supplement called ‘bone and marrow’ by Ancestral Supplements her scores are now in range and have stayed in range for around 2 years.

Before I was aware of bone meal in capsule form I would take a bone meal powder made for human consumption. I took it to bind bile acid on a carnivore diet since my small intestine is likely inefficient at absorbing/recycling bile acid due to Crohn’s disease damage. These supplements aren’t made from the soft bones, they are hard. There was even a warning not to chew the powder for fear of cracking a tooth. So they have to be ground into a fine powder to avoid irritating the GI tract. I imagine this must be how native Americans prepared bone meal.

I’m wondering if anyone has tried making a bone powder for human consumption. I tried googling for the Native American method, but couldn’t find anything.

I take a lot of supplements from the previously mentioned companies(which source their organ meats, colostrum, and bones from the same place in New Zealand. The businesses are actually somewhat related). I’ll probably start another topic on freeze drying(or other preservation methods) for organs and colostrum. These supplements are expensive and I really like them. Although, maybe maybe a fine bone meal powder won’t be worth the effort. The description of ‘bone and marrow’ makes me think they are grinding up femurs….that sounds tough.

Not the bone material itself, but the nutrition.. bone broth has become really big in the last few years, in some circles at least!

Kevin said, "I’m wondering if anyone has tried making a bone powder for human consumption.

After making bone broth I have taken the chicken bones, put them in a grinder or blender, to crack them then dried the resulting bits. When dried put the bones back in the blender to make a powder.

I did this for the garden though there is no reason that this bone meal would not be good for human consumption as I use sanitary preparations.

In my family, we always ate the ends off of  bones, and often cracked them and ate the marrow.
Pressure cooking bones for broth will yield a lot of  gelatin and soften the bones to the point of collapse, no grinding necessary.
I'm not certain this works with beef bones, at least not the first time through the pressure cooker.
I do this with bones that have been eaten off of , because the pressure cooking will kill any germs.
My bones go into the garden, either directly or through the chickens.

For what its worth, I pay lower prices for beef bones at a butcher that cut their own Wagyu than I do for the stuff at the supermarket.
Bones and  suet are the only things I buy there, the meat itself is too expensive for me.

Since I make lots of biochar, I also put all shells and bones (post broth, of course) through fire. This sterilises them just like William's pressure cooker, makes them much easier to crush and changes some of the minerals to forms that are more bioavailable. If you were to pyrolyse bones at a relatively high temperature, like 600 C, and then grind them you would find that it's much easier to achieve a fine powder.

Phil Stevens wrote:Since I make lots of biochar, I also put all shells and bones (post broth, of course) through fire. This sterilises them just like William's pressure cooker, makes them much easier to crush and changes some of the minerals to forms that are more bioavailable. If you were to pyrolyse bones at a relatively high temperature, like 600 C, and then grind them you would find that it's much easier to achieve a fine powder.

Yikes! I wonder what the bones are even like from a nutrition point of view after that process. That’s very interesting though. I think I’ll email the companies and ask them how they do it. They have always been informative with my health questions in the past.

Anne and William, I can imagine chicken bones working that way. I think these are thicker beef bones though. And I do prefer to use a ruminant right now until I have access to better quality chickens.

After pyrolysis the hydrocarbons (mostly sugars, some proteins and fats) that were holding them in place are now gone, so what remains is basically calcium and phosphorous in a mineral called hydroxyapatite, which is also what teeth and eggshells are made of. Without the organic reinforcing in place, this is really brittle stuff, so it's easy to turn into powder and that in turn makes it easier to assimilate.

The mineral nutrients are still there, just in simpler forms that anything from soil microbes to birds and mammals can at least partially digest. If you've already gotten most of the protein and fat via broth, this is just another processing step.

Thanks for bring this up... I'm currently researching it too.

Some things I've found:

"Calcium citrate is the most easily absorbed and does not require stomach acid for absorption, but it is expensive and does not contain much elemental calcium."
"Calcium citrate is absorbed equally with or without food and is a form recommended for individuals with inflammatory bowel disease or people who have low stomach acid"
(from here: https://www.uspharmacist.com/article/pros-and-cons-of-calcium-supplements)

So I've been experimenting with dissolving dried/crushed eggshell powder in lemon/lime juice.
Once re-dryed, the final powder tastes like vitamin C
(And tastes better than the original eggshell powder)

I remember the WestonPrice cookbook has bone broth recipe involving vinegar to dissolve bone, but you might try some bone + lemon and tell us how it feels for you.

Fun to have more folks to share info!

I learned from my grandmother to add a little vinegar to soup bones when cooking to help leach out calcium. It seems to work because the bones became soft after cooking for several hours. Lemon juice would work as well as mentioned above and probably taste better.

I make bone broth nearly every week from whatever bones I have that week or have saved in the freezer from previous meals. I now use a pressure cooker set on high since spending 1-2 days to cook bone broth became a problem for me. The poultry bones are usually soft/brittle cooked for 60-90 minutes. Beef and pork become crumbly at 120 minutes. Your mileage may vary.

If you want to get all the nutrition from the bones, they can be strained from the broth, dried, and pulverized. I usually don't do this because there are other soft scraps in the mix. The broth itself contains a lot of the nutrition from the bones, including gelatin. I usually give the strained material to the pets or put it in the garden. It may come down to how much effort you want to put into the process.

Hi Franco,

Welcome to Permies.

Beef rib bones might be fairly easy to process into bonemeal.

Not quite bones... but we eat a lot of cartilage over here in Japan. Once I got started on it I couldn't stop. Deep fried chicken cartilage with a little bit of meat hanging on is a pretty gnarly snack. So crunchy and delicious. Now when I eat drumsticks I clean them up... down to the bone for sure.

I used to crack chicken bones and eat some of the marrow when I was a kid. I haven't done that in years though.

Lots of great suggestions. Thank you all for the options to consider.

I see this guy gets what appears to be a smooth powder from his dehydrator:


Do you think a solar dehydrator would be safe to use for human consumption of bone meal? I’ve never used one. Also, would it crumble as well?

The bone meal supplement I mentioned previously is low temperature vacuum dried. They claim this preserves certain nutrients. So I guess I’ve been thinking more in terms of a low temperature solution, although I am wondering how much this really matters. I’ll have to experiment and see how I feel with various processing methods.

So I've been experimenting with dissolving dried/crushed eggshell powder in lemon/lime juice.
Once re-dryed, the final powder tastes like vitamin C  
(And tastes better than the original eggshell powder)

Making egg shell powder is another option I’m interested in as well, since it accomplishes much of the same things I’m looking for. I suppose that’s a separate topic though….one I may start if I can’t find a existing thread.

Thanks again for all the good responses.

Oh, and Anne, why ribs in particular?

The bone portion of rib bones is rather thin, compared to leg bones.
Higher ration of marrow.

If you want a bone/calcium/mineral supplement, but have no bones or eggshells...

Try gathering the small mussel shells that can be found in sand or pebbly shores of creeks beds.

Crush with hammer...
Pulverize with extra coffee grinder...
Dissolve in lemon/lime juice.

Now I just need a constant slow stirring mechanism to get 100% complete reaction of the citric acid...
HA! Could carry the bottle in a small pack, and jostle it all day!

Edit: Yes, I forgot step one: boil shells first.
Also, last step: Can re-dry finished liquid into powder again.
FYI: Mussel Shells hardly bubble at all compared to Eggshells when reacting to citric acid. Wonder why...

Kevin David wrote:Do you think a solar dehydrator would be safe to use for human consumption of bone meal? ...

Oh, and Anne, why ribs in particular?

I am not sure though I feel you were wanting beef bones so rib bones would be easy like chicken bones.

I see no reason a solar dehydrated would not work.

Aelios Kalypso wrote:If you want a bone/calcium/mineral supplement, but have no bones or eggshells...

Try gathering the small mussel shells that can be found in sand or pebbly shores of creeks beds.

Crush with hammer...
Pulverize with extra coffee grinder...
Dissolve in lemon/lime juice.

Now I just need a constant slow stirring mechanism to get 100% complete reaction of the citric acid...
HA! Could carry the bottle in a small pack, and jostle it all day!

Edit: Yes, I forgot step one: boil shells first.
Also, last step: Can re-dry finished liquid into powder again.
FYI: Mussel Shells hardly bubble at all compared to Eggshells when reacting to citric acid. Wonder why...

This is yet another solution I am interested in. I’m glad you mentioned it. I used to take an Ayurvedic medicine made of sea shell powders. I found this to be easier on the stomach. Bone meal is sometimes cautioned against, especially with animals, due to potential for intestinal blockages. I have at times felt this may be an issue for me—feeling bloated, backed up, cramping. The sea shell powders never did that.

I think I may try them again. It also has calcium and other benefits similar to bone meal and egg shells.