Making your own vegetable stock powder is heaps easy — and a great way to sneak extra greens into all sorts of meals, all year round.
I first learned this technique from the seriously awesome Milkwood book (page 272), which has loads of interesting ideas for small, sustainable changes you can make at home. Highly recommended.
My version is a lot more haphazard though. Basically, you just chuck in whatever veggies you happen to have around the place: dry them, powder them, done. No weighing or ratios required. Easy as.
These days, we make use of a dehydrator to dry our veggies and then a coffee grinder to speedily whizz it all into a powder.
But before this, I’d just hang leafy greens upside-down in our kitchen until dry, which worked great. And then roughly crush everything with my hands, which sort of worked. So that’s an option for you if you need a low-tech version.
What veggies to add to your homemade stock powder
People often ask what’s in our vegetable stock powder, and my answer is a literal shruggie.
Because you can add any veggies you like — and we do. We’ve found it’s a great way to use up excess leafy greens from our veggie patch. And don’t ignore all those edible weeds, they’re great in this too.
So your mix could include but not be limited to: kale, celery tops, stinging nettle, dock, nasturtium, onion weed, sorrel, spinach, parsley, oregano, dandelion, carrot tops, dill, fennel, beans, lemon rind… and whatever else you might have going at the time.
You can also add root veggies, such as carrot, potato, sweet potato and parsnip. Garlic and ginger are great too. Seriously, just add whatever you’ve got.
We continually add to our jar of veggie stock powder throughout the year. It’s a great way to preserve annual medicinal herbs and weeds (I’m looking at you, nettle and chickweed) so you can enjoy their benefits long after they’ve died back for the year.
How to use your veggie stock powder
And how to use it? Yeah, in everything.
Soups, curries, stews, broths, pasta, egg dishes, roasts. Even sprinkled over salads if you really want.
It does turn everything green though. Which is A-OK with me.
And now for the full recipe
You will need:
- Assorted veggies — see above for ideas
- Salt (optional)
- A dehydrator and coffee grinder is very helpful but not essential
- A large glass jar in which to store your veggie stock powder
Method:
Gather up your veggies and prep them for drying. If you’re using a dehydrator, pull all the leaves off their stalks (you can freeze the stalks and use them later in bone broths or liquid veggie stocks). For root veggies and whatnot, slice them thinly.
Then into the dehydrator; ours usually take about 10 hours at 60 degrees Celcius. Everything needs to be completely dry, crispy even.
Next, grind your veggies to a powder — we whizz ours up in a secondhand coffee grinder.
From here, you can add some salt maybe, if you can be bothered. Then stick a finger into the powder, taste it and add a little more salt if you like.
Pour it all into a big recycled glass jar and screw the lid on. This is now shelf-stable, and will happily last at least a year in your pantry (if you don’t eat it all before then).
And that’s it. Done.
