Homemade Vegetable Stock Powder

Vegetable stock is pretty readily available in various cartons, powders and cubes. I've tried a few of them and been heartily disappointed by most. I know salt is needed to preserve the stocks and amplify their flavours, but they usually have so much salt that there are no other flavours to amplify. So I started making my own.

Initially, I tried dehydrating vegetables, grinding them and combining with salt. It worked, but the vegetables tended to rehydrate as small pieces rather than a stock when combined with boiling water. So I experimented with a few methods until I came up with this recipe. The quantities are only approximate and vary in every batch, because it depends on what leftover veggies I have lying around at the time. If you have plenty of fresh vegetables just waiting to be used, that's great. The advantage of this is you don't need them; when I make pumpkin soup, I reserve the skin to use in my next batch of stock. The same goes for carrots and sweet potato, provided they've been washed before being peeled. Have some mushrooms that have shriveled slightly in the fridge? Toss them in, too.

Ingredients:

• 2 large onions, chopped into quarters
• 2 large carrots, washed and chopped into chunks (or carrot peel, pumpkin skin, sweet potato peel, etc.)
• 2 celery stalks, washed and cut into 4-5 cm lengths (or discarded celery leaves)*
• 2 cups mushrooms
• 1 leek, chopped into 4-5 cm lengths (or discarded leek leaves)*
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tsp freshly ground pepper
• Salt

Directions:

• Add all ingredients apart from salt to a pot and almost cover with water. Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer for 30 minutes. This isn't as long as most stocks, but remember that this is to make a powder, not liquid stock.
• Remove from the heat and blend liquid and vegetables to a puree. This may need to be done in batches.
• Poor onto trays of a dehydrator and set for vegetables. If you don't have a dehydrator, poor onto baking trays and put in an oven set to 55°C/130°F, propping the door slightly ajar to allow moisture to escape.
• Dehydration times vary depending on how much liquid is in your puree and how thick the layers are. Stock may need to be flipped over when dehydrated to a leathery consistency to finish drying. When dried, it will be hard and brittle. Transfer to a mortar and pestle or spice grinder and grind to a fine powder.
• Now you need to add the salt. This varies by personal taste and the final product can contain anywhere from 25-50% salt. To test, rehydrate 1 tsp powdered vegetables in 1 cup boiling water and add salt 1/4 tsp at a time, tasting between each addition. Take note of how much salt you add to meet your tastes. If, for example, you prefer 1/2 tsp of salt, combine powder vegetables and salt in a 2:1 ratio to produce your stock powder. Mix well and store in an air-tight container.

Note: This powder produces a light stock, but if you want something more akin to a dark beef stock, you can add 2 tsp promite/vegemite/marmite or your preferred black yeast concentrate spread of goodness to the mix before blending. Equally, you could combine a small quantity with your stock powder before adding the boiling water.

*Remove the roots, but the rest of the leeks and celery from the white to the leaves is usable.