Co-op Basic Vegetable Stock
(courtesy of Jada McGirt, prepared foods manager, Great Basin Community Food Co-op in Reno. Yields around 3 quarts)
About 4 cups well-washed kitchen scraps (onion skins, roots, and tops; celery roots, bottoms, and leaves; carrot peels, tips, shoulders)
12 to 14 cups water
Salt and pepper, to taste
Place all ingredients in large stockpot and simmer 1 to 1½ hours. Strain through fine-mesh strainer and discard or compost vegetable residue. Broth may be used as soup base or to flavor other dishes, or cooled and frozen for future use.
