Why Broth Masters Is Different Than Shelf-Stabilized Grocery Store Bone Broth

We hope you had a very happy Thanksgiving!

We certainly did, and today, we’re excited to share some insight on the unique way that we prepare Broth Masters bone broth.

There are genuine nutritional differences between our broth (living food shipped frozen) and the shelf-stable kind at the grocery store.

Broth Masters is profoundly more nourishing –– and if you’re focused on healing, the reasons matter.

So here’s our attempt at explaining them!

Shelf-stabilization (by high-heat pasteurization or high-pressure pasteurization) destroys nutrients.

We cook our broth “slow and low” and freeze while fresh.

The first thing to know about great bone broth is what you can’t do if you want to preserve its nutritional power.

Namely –– you cannot heat the water, bones, and vegetables past a certain point. Once a critical temperature threshold is crossed, the vitamins and minerals start degrading fast.

As a paper called Effect Of Storage On Nutritive Food Value by Amihud Kramer of the University of Maryland’s food science program put it:

Initial heat processing to the point of enzyme inactivation, or to the point of microbial sterilization, “stabilizes” the food so that it does not spoil but at the same time causes a greater initial reduction in certain nutrients, and a more gradual reduction with extended nutrients so that they become more available, but once released, they are also subject to losses unless stored at lower temperatures.

The other thing you can’t do if you want a really nutritious broth is pasteurize it with high pressure. 

This is another common industrial “solution” used to kill bacteria that, unfortunately, also degrades the beneficial nutrients that you want your broth to have.

A study published in the Journal Of Food Engineering observed vitamin losses of up to 12% in foods prepared with ultra-high hydrostatic pressure.

The loss of nutrition from high-heat and high-pressure pasteurization is exactly what we didn’t want for Broth Masters.

As we said in What Makes Broth Masters Nutritious, the bay leaves, garlic, carrots, onions, celery, peppercorns all get added to the pot at certain intervals, based on each ingredient’s unique nutritional structure. 

Same with the bones –– our pasture raised chicken bones and grassfed beef bones would yield less bioavailable nutrition if we cooked them any hotter than the specific temperatures we do (or treated it with extremely high pressure.)

If you’ve ever wondered why Broth Masters has more calcium than other broths, or why a university researcher was surprised by the amount of Sulfated GAGs, this is a big reason.

We simmer at lower temps for 48 hours (not 10-20) to draw nutrients out and keep them alive. 

And we freeze our broth when it’s done (more on that soon) so that we don’t need to pressurize it either.

Shelf-stabilization also creates a bland, weak flavor.
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Broth Masters has an authentic home cooked taste because it IS that.

Now, in addition to damaging a broth’s nutrients, high heat and pressure also really dull the taste.

Want to know why you see 300 - 400 milligrams of sodium per serving on the labels of many popular bone broths? As well as (sometimes) sugar or the always-ominous “natural flavoring?”

It’s because many of the nutrients that really give natural flavor to bone broth didn’t survive the pasteurization process.

Broth Masters is cooked in a mindful way centered on preserving and enhancing nutrients, resulting in a flavor leagues above basic broth.

“I have one or two cups of broth per day and I love it. It has a rich, homemade taste that is far superior to any other broth on the market. I have struggled with acid reflux for years and it is much improved after adding this broth to my daily routine.”

–– Donna B.

Customers tell us our broth tastes “rich” and “homemade” because it IS those things!

And because the flavors are truly natural, Broth Masters only has 150 mg of sodium per serving (less than half of other brands.)

If you’re familiar with how much more flavorful raw milk is than pasteurized, this is very similar.

Just like pasteurization destroys most of the probiotics, enzymes, and water soluble vitamins in milk, leading to a weaker more industrial flavor –– it does the same to bone broth.

That’s not what we want for our customers so we don’t cook in a way that worsens flavor.

Bone broth needs to stay cold for freshness and flavor.
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We ship Broth Masters frozen, even though it’s a real business challenge!

Great-tasting bone broth isn’t just about not overheating it though. It’s also about cooling it after it’s done cooking to make sure the nutrients stay viable.

If we didn’t freeze Broth Masters, significant amounts of nutrients would be lost before it reached your doorstep. Even though we never use extreme heat or pressure.

We understand why companies shelf-stabilize their broth –– it’s a lot cheaper to sell, ship, and store.

The logistics of keeping our broth cold adds significant operational complexity to our business.

We simply don’t feel right selling you products that are less nutritious than they could be.

If you haven’t tried Broth Masters, we think you’ll notice the difference in your first sip.

Thank you for letting us share more about why! ❤️

Warmly,

-Dorothy & Laya

 

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