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MOO StockPowder
Stock powder or cubes is often listed as an ingredient in recipes. It gives concentrated flavour to boost to soups, stews, casseroles, rice dishes, pasta sauces, fritters, meatballs and rissoles.
Stock powder is readily available in any supermarket so you may well ask is it worth the effort of MOOing?
Oh yes. And it's no effort at all. The cost saving is significant. Stock powder costs, depending on the brand you buy, anything from $19.00 a kilo through to $34.10 a kilo! And it's not just the price. Have you looked at the list of ingredients on the tin of stock powder in your pantry? How many of them can you pronounce? How many are listed? Where is salt in the list (I'm betting first or second ingredient!)
The Massel salt reduced vegetable stock powder ingredients list reads:
• Corn Maltodextrin
• Marine Salt
• Refined White Sugar
• Yeast Extract
• Dehydrated Vegetables (Onion, Spinach, Cabbage, Garlic, Celery),
• Natural Vegetable Flavours
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Chilli
Vegetables in this supposedly vegetable stock are way down the list, in fifth place, with salt and sugar above them.
The list of ingredients on the Continental instant vegetable stock reads:
• Salt
• Vegetable (15%)
• Sugar
• Maltodextrin (from Wheat)
• Flavours (Contain Milk Derivative)
• Maize Starch
• Parsley
• Yeast Extract
• Flavour Enhancer (635)
• Sunflower Oil
• Mineral Salt (Potassium Chloride)
• Garlic Extract,
• Anti-Caking Agent (551)
• Natural Colour (Turmeric)
• Spice Extract
• Herb Extract
Wow! Fifteen ingredients in a simple vegetable stock powder. It may be 15% vegetable, but it's mostly salt.
MOOing vegetable stock powder is a much healthier (and cheaper) alternative to any of the commercial versions available. It's also a nice way to use up the extra veggies you have in the crisper.
Here's my easy method of making vegetable stock powder.
Step 1. Get a variety of vegetables together (quantity doesn't matter, use what you have on hand). I like to use onion, carrot and celery as the base. The I round it out with whatever other veggies I have. Perhaps silverbeet, spinach, capsicum, mushrooms (not too many, they have an intense flavour), garlic, parsley, fresh basil, oregano and sometimes tomatoes.
Use the vegetables you like to eat, just watch out for the stronger veggies like cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower and kale. They can leave you with a very strong flavoured stock that overwhelms your cooking. Remember, stock is to enrich and enhance, not take over.
Step 2. Wash the vegetables thoroughly, peel if necessary and slice thinly. A food processor or mandolin can be used to get nice even slices if you have one. The thinner the slices, the faster the pieces will dehydrate.
Depending on how you'll dehydrate the vegetables, shape may matter. For example, the trays in my dehydrator have openings to allow the air to circulate. Smaller items, like garlic, will fall through the openings. To alleviate the problem, either slice a vegetable into a different shape (rounds instead of strips or vice versa) or line the shelf with baking paper.
Step 3. Dehydrate. Choose a method (the oven or a dehydrator). I use a dehydrator, it supplies consistent heat and dries food quickly. I have also used the oven (before the dehydrator arrived). Pre-heat the oven to 150 degrees Celsius. When it reaches temperature turn it down to 80 degrees or as low as it will go. Put your trays full of vegetables in, close the door and prop it open with a wooden spoon. It works as well as the dehydrator but may take a little longer.
When you've chosen your method, lay the vegetables out in a single layer on the trays and begin drying. Continue dehydrating until vegetables are completely dry. They should be a bit crispy to ensure that there is no moisture left in them. Moisture will make your finished product lumpy and increase the possibility of mould.
Step 4. Grind the dehydrated vegetables into a powder. Use a food processor, mortar and pestle, stick blender or a coffee grinder. Process the vegetables until they are a nice fine powder. I use the food processor if I'm grinding large amounts, the stick blender if it's just a small amount of dried veggies.
Don't be tempted to add salt to your stock powder. Salt may well be the main ingredient in commercial powders but it really is best to leave it out. That way you can add the stock powder to your recipe and then adjust the seasonings to taste, adding salt if it's really necessary. Vegetables have a lot of natural salt in them and it's quite concentrated when they are dry, so adding extra usually isn't necessary.
Step 5. Store the finished product in an airtight container, preferably glass. Similar to spices, a cool dark location is best for maintaining the quality of your MOO stock powder.
MOO stock powder is so easy to make, and such a frugal addition to your pantry. Once you've tried it you'll never go back to buying stock powder and you'll be reaping the savings.
Stock powder is readily available in any supermarket so you may well ask is it worth the effort of MOOing?
Oh yes. And it's no effort at all. The cost saving is significant. Stock powder costs, depending on the brand you buy, anything from $19.00 a kilo through to $34.10 a kilo! And it's not just the price. Have you looked at the list of ingredients on the tin of stock powder in your pantry? How many of them can you pronounce? How many are listed? Where is salt in the list (I'm betting first or second ingredient!)
The Massel salt reduced vegetable stock powder ingredients list reads:
• Corn Maltodextrin
• Marine Salt
• Refined White Sugar
• Yeast Extract
• Dehydrated Vegetables (Onion, Spinach, Cabbage, Garlic, Celery),
• Natural Vegetable Flavours
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Chilli
Vegetables in this supposedly vegetable stock are way down the list, in fifth place, with salt and sugar above them.
The list of ingredients on the Continental instant vegetable stock reads:
• Salt
• Vegetable (15%)
• Sugar
• Maltodextrin (from Wheat)
• Flavours (Contain Milk Derivative)
• Maize Starch
• Parsley
• Yeast Extract
• Flavour Enhancer (635)
• Sunflower Oil
• Mineral Salt (Potassium Chloride)
• Garlic Extract,
• Anti-Caking Agent (551)
• Natural Colour (Turmeric)
• Spice Extract
• Herb Extract
Wow! Fifteen ingredients in a simple vegetable stock powder. It may be 15% vegetable, but it's mostly salt.
MOOing vegetable stock powder is a much healthier (and cheaper) alternative to any of the commercial versions available. It's also a nice way to use up the extra veggies you have in the crisper.
Here's my easy method of making vegetable stock powder.
Step 1. Get a variety of vegetables together (quantity doesn't matter, use what you have on hand). I like to use onion, carrot and celery as the base. The I round it out with whatever other veggies I have. Perhaps silverbeet, spinach, capsicum, mushrooms (not too many, they have an intense flavour), garlic, parsley, fresh basil, oregano and sometimes tomatoes.
Use the vegetables you like to eat, just watch out for the stronger veggies like cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower and kale. They can leave you with a very strong flavoured stock that overwhelms your cooking. Remember, stock is to enrich and enhance, not take over.
Step 2. Wash the vegetables thoroughly, peel if necessary and slice thinly. A food processor or mandolin can be used to get nice even slices if you have one. The thinner the slices, the faster the pieces will dehydrate.
Depending on how you'll dehydrate the vegetables, shape may matter. For example, the trays in my dehydrator have openings to allow the air to circulate. Smaller items, like garlic, will fall through the openings. To alleviate the problem, either slice a vegetable into a different shape (rounds instead of strips or vice versa) or line the shelf with baking paper.
Step 3. Dehydrate. Choose a method (the oven or a dehydrator). I use a dehydrator, it supplies consistent heat and dries food quickly. I have also used the oven (before the dehydrator arrived). Pre-heat the oven to 150 degrees Celsius. When it reaches temperature turn it down to 80 degrees or as low as it will go. Put your trays full of vegetables in, close the door and prop it open with a wooden spoon. It works as well as the dehydrator but may take a little longer.
When you've chosen your method, lay the vegetables out in a single layer on the trays and begin drying. Continue dehydrating until vegetables are completely dry. They should be a bit crispy to ensure that there is no moisture left in them. Moisture will make your finished product lumpy and increase the possibility of mould.
Step 4. Grind the dehydrated vegetables into a powder. Use a food processor, mortar and pestle, stick blender or a coffee grinder. Process the vegetables until they are a nice fine powder. I use the food processor if I'm grinding large amounts, the stick blender if it's just a small amount of dried veggies.
Don't be tempted to add salt to your stock powder. Salt may well be the main ingredient in commercial powders but it really is best to leave it out. That way you can add the stock powder to your recipe and then adjust the seasonings to taste, adding salt if it's really necessary. Vegetables have a lot of natural salt in them and it's quite concentrated when they are dry, so adding extra usually isn't necessary.
Step 5. Store the finished product in an airtight container, preferably glass. Similar to spices, a cool dark location is best for maintaining the quality of your MOO stock powder.
MOO stock powder is so easy to make, and such a frugal addition to your pantry. Once you've tried it you'll never go back to buying stock powder and you'll be reaping the savings.