I'm a full-time mummy

If you are planning to venture into soup making recipes, read up on my post today where I share a personal tip of mine on how to make our soup tastes sweeter.

You can prepare the ingredients for the soup you plan to make as usual, just that, at the final step, to add in an apple, peeled, cored and sliced into smaller chunks and start cooking the soup.

** Note: I have disabled the commenting feature on my blog engine thanks to all the spammers who happily spam my blog every day. If you wish to ask me any questions, you can find me at my Facebook page (I'm there almost everyday) or just drop me an email if you wish to maintain some anonymity.

During my earlier days when I started to cook for my family, I always discard the broccoli stems and only make use of the florets part for stir-frying and steaming broccoli dishes. That all changed when my mother-in law caught me throwing away the stem and told me not to waste the stem as we can use it when preparing soup.Think of all the stems I have thrown away in the past! Horror! Guilt!

Since then, whenever I bought broccoli, what I do is:

* Clean and wash the broccoli

* Use up the florets part for stir-frying / steaming dishes

* Keep the stem part in freezer if I am not using it immediately

* Use the stem part for my soup making days (just add into the pot before preparing the soup)

Benefits of broccoli stems:

Broccoli stems are as nutritious as the broccoli crown. One hundred grams of broccoli stems contains 28 calories, 2.98 grams of protein, 48 milligrams of calcium, .88 milligrams of iron, 25 milligrams of magnesium, 325 milligrams of potassium, 27 milligrams of sodium and 400 IU of vitamin A. One hundred grams of broccoli florets contains identical nutrition information, making broccoli stems just as healthy and vitamin-packed as the more visually appealing broccoli florets. ~ Source

Now that you know this, do give it a try! Keep the broccoli stems and use them when you prepare soup next time!

Further reading:

* Conscientious Cook: Good Uses for Broccoli Stalks

* 7 Ways to Use Broccoli Stalks

** Note: I have disabled the commenting feature on my blog engine thanks to all the spammers who happily spam my blog every day. If you wish to ask me any questions, you can find me at my Facebook page (I'm there almost everyday) or just drop me an email if you wish to maintain some anonymity.

If you are planning to venture into soup making recipes, read up on my post today on why we should blanch the meat that goes into the soup. It is an essential step to follow if you are planning to make soups as this will produce clearer broth (soup).

 I normally use pork bones with some pork meats when I prepare my soups though there are the occasional times I used chicken meat as well. After buying the meat for soupmaking, I will wash it one time while preparing a pot of water about an inch high. Once the water starts boiling, I will slowly put in the meat into the pot and blanch them until they turned white. This normally takes a few minutes. Once done, you can take the meat out and give it a quick rinse in cold water again then drain them before continuing on with your soupmaking process or for storing (I normally do this as I buy in batch and freeze them)

Benefits of blanching:

Certain types of meats and fish, including organ meats, chicken breast and some seafood, benefit from blanching. You blanch organ meats to remove some of musty taste and begin the breakdown of the dense connective tissue that can make offal chewy. ~ Source

Many chefs, wanting the clearest possible broth or stock, begin the process by blanching the meat and bones they're using. This means bringing them to a simmer and stirring them once or twice to ensure all surfaces are exposed to the water. Proteins from the meat's surface and juices cook out and coagulate, making the familiar gray foam you'll often see forming in a soup pot. The chef drains the pot and rinses the meat, washing away these proteins, and then begins making the stock. With these proteins gone, the stock will be clearer and require less skimming and straining. ~ Source

Some of my past soups outcome:

ABC Soup

Lotus Root Soup

Szechuan Vegetable Soup

And to show you how it looks like if you did not blanch your meat, this is one of the recent soup I made. I forgot to blanch the meat!!! Notice the impurities floating on the surface of the soup? Of course you can still drink the soup, just need more work to filter out and scoop the impurities away first. Sigh...

** Note: I have disabled the commenting feature on my blog engine thanks to all the spammers who happily spam my blog every day. If you wish to ask me any questions, you can find me at my Facebook page (I'm there almost everyday) or just drop me an email if you wish to maintain some anonymity.