Bone broth

Bone broth is one of the oldest preparations in the world: beef or poultry bones, water, a little salt, and a very slow simmer. The slowness is the whole point. Where a stock cube is a blend of flavourings and salt, real bone broth simmers for around twenty hours — long enough for the collagen in the bones and cartilage to pass into the water and give the liquid its slightly gelled texture when cold. That is the tell-tale sign.

What ends up in the cup is protein first and foremost: between 45 and 51 g per 100 g in the concentrates we stock, most of it as collagen, along with the amino acids typical of that protein, glycine and proline in particular. Nothing mysterious about it — it is simply a dense, savoury, comforting food that works as well at breakfast as at the end of the day.

The renewed interest of recent years comes mostly down to simplicity. Three ingredients, no additives, no sweeteners — a label you can read in full. For many of our customers in Paris, it is also the most natural way to add collagen to their diet without going through a flavoured powder.

That is the first question we get in the shop, and the answer mostly depends on your routine.

The concentrate comes in a jar. A heaped teaspoon (10 g) stirred into a cup of hot water makes one bowl of broth. The 440 g jar covers 44 cups, the 220 g jar 22. This is the format for regular drinkers: it keeps for 18 months unopened, four months in the fridge once opened, and the cost per cup is markedly lower. It is also the more practical option for cooking, where you measure by the spoonful to suit the dish.

The ready-to-drink bottle, 350 ml, only needs warming up. It is the right choice for trying it out without committing, for taking with you, or simply because you would rather not have anything to prepare. We stock it in beef and in chicken.

As for beef versus chicken, it comes down to taste. Beef gives a full-bodied, straightforward stock, the pot-au-feu kind; chicken is milder and lighter, and goes down better in the morning or for anyone who dislikes strong flavours. Plenty of our regulars in the 12th alternate between the two with the seasons.

We settled on a single producer, Jarmino, because it was the only one to combine everything we were looking for: bones from organic, pasture-raised, grass-fed cattle, production in Bavaria within easy reach of the partner farms, and a genuinely long simmer. Here is the full range available in Paris 12e:

• Organic beef concentrate 440 g — the benchmark, 44 cups, the best value per cup.
• Low-salt beef concentrate 440 g — same recipe, around a third less salt, for anyone watching their sodium or cooking a lot.
• Beef concentrate 220 g — the small jar, ideal for a first try.
• Chicken concentrate 410 g — the mild version, in the large jar.
• Chicken concentrate 200 g — the same, in a taster size.
• Organic beef broth 350 ml and chicken broth 350 ml — ready to warm through.

All of them are gluten-free and lactose-free. If you would rather have a neutral powder to mix, look at our collagen powder shelf; and if it is the protein intake you are after, our advisers will show you how the two work together.

The simplest way is a cup: a heaped teaspoon of concentrate, plenty of hot water, stir, and it is ready in thirty seconds. Some people add a turn of pepper, a pinch of herbs, a squeeze of lemon or a little turmeric. One serving a day is the usual rhythm, often in the morning or late afternoon, at the hour you might otherwise have tea.

But bone broth is first of all a cooking ingredient, and that may be where it earns its place. A spoonful in the cooking liquid of a risotto, in a purée, a vegetable soup, a sauce or a slow-cooked dish beats a stock cube and adds a depth you notice immediately. The low-salt version is especially handy here, since it leaves the final seasoning to you.

On storage, just remember this: jars keep for 18 months unopened at room temperature, then go in the fridge once opened, where they last at least four months. Ready-to-drink bottles should be finished within a few days of opening.

Bone broth remains hard to find in shops: most retailers do not carry it, and the few that do usually stop at a single reference. At Herba Barona you have the whole range in front of you — beef and chicken, concentrate and ready to drink, large and small — and you can compare the labels at your own pace before choosing.

We are at 10 rue Théophile Roussel, Paris 12e, a short walk from the Aligre market, metro Ledru-Rollin (line 8) or Bastille (lines 1, 5 and 8), Tuesday to Saturday from 9.30 am to 6.30 pm. The stock shown on the site is the shop’s stock, in real time: what you see available here is on the shelf.

You can also order online for delivery anywhere in France, or choose click and collect if you are in Paris. And if you are torn between two formats, come and see us — that is a question far more easily settled in a two-minute conversation.