Best storebought chicken broth/stock?

[Chefguy]

@puzzlegal

I bought several varieties of chicken broth at the local supermarket one day, and did my own taste test. My pick was Imagine Organic low sodium Chicken broth. I like their “not chicken broth”, too, which I use when I have vegans over and am making a dish where I would usually use chicken broth.

I mostly picked it because it had fewer “chemically” or “off” flavors than most brands. I’m a picky eater, and don’t like fake-tasting food. But it also has a nice chicken taste.

I see that Epicurious likes it, too.
The Best Chicken Broth and Stock You Can Buy in the Store or Online | Epicurious

I don’t know whether Swansons was on my list. I may have ruled it out as too salty in my initial purchasing. (I looked for more protein and less salt to prune the offerings down to about 4 that I taste-tested.) Based on the reviews here, I ought to try it. One of the reviews I just read says that has more flavors than the Imagine, though. (Good flavors, like other veggies, but still, it tastes more like a soup and less like a clean chicken broth for cooking.)

I think most dishes benefit from the other flavors of veggies. Most of the soups/stews I make call for some sort of mirapoix, so it’s a plus.

[wolfman]

@Deeg

Why don’t large grocery stores offer their own house-made broth? I’m thinking of grocers like Wegmans or Whole Foods that have in-house butchers and kitchens (to cook for their food courts). It seems like it would be easy to take all the left-over trimmings from the butcher, throw them in a big pot, and boil it for a few hours. Do it daily and throw out any broth that doesn’t get bought after a few days. Voila–fresh, simple broth!

I assume it’s because they actually sell the trimmings to some other industry for more money than they could make on the broth.

A lot of places do sell stock. Particularly the high-end places that do a good business in prepared foods, usually have some semi-prepared stuff like broths that are good. But I have seen it in a Kroger’s as well.

Where I used to live I would buy chicken stock from the Chinese restaurant down the block. They cut up several dozen chickens a day and had much more stock than they could use.

[Chefguy]

@wolfman

A lot of places do sell stock. Particularly the high-end places that do a good business in prepared foods, usually have some semi-prepared stuff like broths that are good. But I have seen it in a Kroger’s as well.

Where I used to live I would buy chicken stock from the Chinese restaurant down the block. They cut up several dozen chickens a day and had much more stock than they could use.

We have a seafood vendor up the street who makes and sells fish stock.

[puzzlegal]

My supermarket doesn’t sell ground chicken, but they have home-made chicken sausage. I bet that’s where the scraps go. Although, I suppose they would still have bones they could make both from. You know, I bet the prepared food area has soups, although I’ve never noticed.

[puzzlegal]

@Chefguy

I think most dishes benefit from the other flavors of veggies. Most of the soups/stews I make call for some sort of mirapoix, so it’s a plus.

I add broth to dishes like chicken with ginger and scallion, where I don’t think a pronounced vegetable flavor would be helpful. But for a lot of dishes, sure. For my bean soup it would likely be nice.