Gelatin is somewhat of a superfood, having its heyday again after years of misguided vilification.  It is the cooked form of animal collagen, which contains an unusually high amount of the amino acids, glycine and proline. Aside from getting a small supply whenever you eat gelatinous meaty dishes, there are three other ways to boost your intake. By consuming bone broth; using the storebought powdered or sheet form; or preparing your own homemade gelatin.

Benefits of gelatin – why we all need it

Gelatin’s health benefits are extensive. It is wonderful for the gut and digestion in general. And it’s also well known for assisting with joint health and arthritis pain, largely due to its chondroitin content. The impressive amounts of glycine make it a wonderfully calming food for people suffering with anxiety, stress or restless sleep. (Especially children!)

Sourcing vs. making gelatin

Gelatin is naturally found in the skin and cartilage of animals. It readily dissolves in boiling water ...

Ok, so I’ve been banging on about bone broth a lot lately (sorry). It’s just that I’ve been sitting on quite a few broth-based recipes from our What To Eat e-books and have been waiting for the warmer months to spring some of them on you (no pun intended)!

Did you catch last Summer’s hottest new trend? Bone broth popsicles. Yep – brothsicles! Aussies, it’s established terminology, so we’ll have to go along with the Americans on this one. ‘Broth block’ doesn’t have quite the same ring to it, anyway..

Recently, a New York City eatery made headlines with its fruit-flavoured brothsicles. According to the makers, they don’t taste meaty at all. (They claim that the bone broth flavour is ‘totally overwhelmed’ by the fruit and coconut milk they use). Lots of people love them, but clearly not everyone. A randomly selected child from the audience of one live television program described them as “something really disgusting”!

Now I can’t call myself a connoisseur of many things, but ice cream ...

You’ve probably heard about bone broth by now. As of last year, its use as a health tonic is officially a phenomenon. And it’s easy to understand why. It’s an effective remedy for countless issues we seem to be plagued with in the 21st century! Poor immunity and gut health. Joint problems and tooth decay. And most importantly (apparently), premature aging of the skin.

And while most omnivores seem be adopting this new habit, something that’s not so clear to many, is which type of bones are the best to use. This post is a collection of my tips and advice around choosing bones for bone broth, taken from week 6 of my What To Eat program.

Which are the best types of bones for bone broth?

There’s no right or wrong when it comes to the types of bones to use for your broth. Different bones just offer different things.  For example, marrow bones provide immune boosting fats that support fertility, growth and development in children and act as a potent healer for the sick.

Joint and knuckle...