Vegetable broth: great on its own, essential for tasty dishes.

Vegetable broth: an essential base for preparing many dishes, in our good Mediterranean cuisine. Tasty and healthy, it can be used to cook delicious soups, risottos, meat or fish dishes. The vegetable broth is a true blend of vegetables: celery, onion, potatoes, tomato, carrots, and plenty of parsley. Used as a base or as a flavorful dish, vegetable broth has always been present on the tables of traditional farming families, also because of the easy availability of the ingredients and its low cost.

The delicate taste of vegetable broth does not overpower the flavors, but enhances them, making it perfect to enjoy on its own to warm up on a cold winter evening, or with the addition of simple pasta for soup. Vegetable broth is an essential element in our cuisine, as tradition teaches!

Vegetable broth: a long peasant tradition

Vegetable broth has a long peasant tradition: it was the first thing every housewife would do in preparation for a meal, putting a pot of water on the fire. Vegetable broth served as both the base for soups and a fundamental element for cooking braised or stewed dishes. Vegetable broth was never missing: it guaranteed good nourishment at a low cost thanks to the use of vegetables that were always at hand, which could be consumed as is or with the meats of poultry, used to prepare boiled, braised, or even meatballs.

Since the 1700s, in Paris, there have been establishments dedicated to tasting broth, known as "bouillons", which served only broth or boiled dishes. With the French Revolution, these bouillons became "restaurants", able to extend their offerings to other dishes. Therefore, we owe, at least in part, the birth of current restaurants to vegetable broth.

In addition to the tasting pleasures, vegetable broth has always been recognized for its healing properties. An ancient manuscript from the 1200s, preserved in the Laurentian Library, states that "when new mothers and the sick cannot swallow because their throat is dry and closed, they should be given a good broth to drink, which is food or drink, as it will moisten the throat like an ointment." In fact, even today when we are sick, we really enjoy a nice hot and steaming vegetable broth!

Even during the celebrations of peasant society, vegetable broth took center stage, as a base for simple traditional dishes like cappelletti and tortellini in broth, anolini, or passatelli. Today, however, it has become increasingly rare to find such broth dishes in current restaurants: on one hand, the reason lies in experimentation, on the other, in the speed of cooking. But vegetable broth represents a home dish, our home cooking, and it is what we want to exalt today, also giving a few good tips on how not to miss out on preparing excellent vegetable broth, even if you have little time to make it.

Vegetable broth: how is it prepared?

Vegetable broth is a widely used base in the cooking of many recipes. It is used to prepare a large number of first courses, such as pasta or rice in broth, risottos, tortellini, canederli, passatelli, scrambled eggs, and much more. It is also used to extend the cooking liquids for oven roasts, braised dishes in casserole, or boiled meals, to keep the pasta hydrated, and to create accompanying sauces. It is an amber-colored beverage or food, with a variable hue depending on the addition of certain ingredients like tomatoes, which will give a red tendency, but always with the delicate aroma and soft taste of boiled vegetables.

To prepare vegetable broth at home, only a few ingredients are needed. The essentials are celery, carrots, and onion, but many also use zucchini, tomatoes, potatoes, and aromatic herbs including parsley. When vegetable broth is used as cooking liquid, it is advisable to salt it lightly. If it is only used as a hydration base, it is better to leave it bland.

The vegetables should be cut into pieces and cooked in cold water. So it is important to remember to put the vegetables in the water before turning on the gas, and not when the water is boiling. The preparation is simple but takes some time, which often leads to purchasing broth cubes at the supermarket. However, not everyone is thrilled about it, as preservatives such as glutamate or palm oil are often used for their conservation, making them not entirely natural. Here are some great tips for enjoying a tasty vegetable broth, completely natural, but without spending hours cooking it!

Vegetable broth: our tips for an excellent homemade broth!

Vegetable broth is simple to prepare but can take a lot of time; but today it is possible to have excellent vegetable broth, 100% natural, that can be prepared in just a few minutes. How? With the Well Alimentare Italiana products, which has made broth its specialty!

The Well concentrated organic vegetable broth from Well Alimentare is a concentrate of fresh vegetables and natural extracts, which releases a rich and authentic flavor thanks to the high quality of the ingredients used, all organic. The trays are very easy to use: just pour the contents into 500 ml of water, even cold. To flavor dishes, the concentrate can be distributed directly on the food, before or during cooking. The vegetable broth concentrate Well is produced with 100% natural ingredients, without added glutamate, gluten, or lactose, without palm oil and with concentrated vegetable juices. It can be used to prepare excellent broths or soups, risottos, soups, and can enhance meat dishes simply by dosing it before or during cooking; it will give a special touch to sauces, condiments, main courses, and side dishes of all kinds, just let your imagination run wild!

We also suggest the Well organic granular vegetable broth, a broth and granular seasoning preparation, with concentrated vegetable extracts with full and harmonious flavor, with all the quality of the organic ingredients guaranteed by Well Alimentare. The convenient granular broth is super easy to prepare: just dissolve 20/22 grams of granules, about two tablespoons, in a liter of boiling water and let it boil for a few minutes. To flavor dishes, it can be sprinkled over food before or during cooking, instead of salt. The Well Alimentare granular vegetable broth is totally natural, without glutamate, gluten, or lactose, without palm oil, and is produced with concentrated vegetable juices. It is perfect for preparing excellent broths, soups, risottos, and directly on preparations, even as a salt substitute; it can be added to main courses, side dishes, sauces, and condiments. You will notice the difference!

Vegetable broth: an ancient preparation with a thousand uses, a simple and tasty dish to try with the tips from Spaghetti & Mandolino! And of course, enjoy your meal!