Anyone know about this?

[marcie]

As I have been using increasing amounts of chicken broth in cooking, and since I'm not too well and I didn't want to have to make it all the time, I was looking for a substitute for the small containers. And, you should know that I don't actually do our shopping; Jim, my husband, does it for me, since I'm not supposed to be around crowds of people.

He came home with something I'd never heard of, and I've tried it, and it seems to have good flavor, but...

It's made by McCormick, and it's called Chicken Base. He got it at a large warehouse-type supermarket where he shops a lot, called Food 4 Less, in the *Institutional* aisle. It's a concentrated sauce, or paste, I guess, and needs refrigeration after opening. A small container about 1 cup in size makes 5 gallons of broth. You add it to boiling water, 1 tsp. base per 1 C. of water. The two main ingredients are cooked chicken and *mechanically separated chicken meat.*

On the plus side, it is easy to use, is great as a soup base, or to add to rice water, or a number of other things for that matter. You can make a quick lunch by adding some veggies, canned beans and rice or pasta.

On the minus side, I'm not sure if it can be trusted... I'm kinda funny about chicken and germs, since I'm at risk for just about everything now.

I went to the McCormick website and can't even find it listed in their products there. The brand is the same as the spices and seasonings, so I was just wondering if anyone out there was familiar with it or knew anything about it.

It sure takes the place of a lot of canned broth, and the price was just about $4.50, which is amazing.

I did find it on the internet for purchase at other places, but at the one I checked the price was higher than what I paid; about $7.50, I think.

[Jenny]

Marcie, I've never heard of it before. But, does it have anything listed like "seasonings" or "flavor enhancers"? Most of those things have MSG, and I'd be concerned about that. Even things like any form of glutamate, glutamic acid, or anything that sounds like that I would avoid. On another site I saw a quote from an article about glutamates and cancer. I'll try to find it, but it was enough to make me stop using anything that I even think MIGHT have MSG in it.

Take care,

Jenny

[marcie]

Wow, what an eye-opener I got this mroning. Jenny, thank you so much for your reply. I did read the link you posted, and while I thought I'd been avoiding MSG completely, I found out differently.

I put my glasses on to examine the Chicken Base label more thoroughly and found that while it said NO MSG Added, under it in tiny, tiny print it said *other than that which naturally occurs in autolyzed yeast* so I then did a search for autolyzed yeast, which immediately brought up this link: www.truthinlabeling.org/organicP.html

After reading that eye opener I went through the spices in my cabinet to find that I'll probably throw everything out, and give up on them, only using what I can get fresh and grow myself. I'm already growing some, and thankfully they're the ones I use most often, except for garlic. I do use fresh garlic.

Anyway, thanks again. It just really makes you wonder what they think they're doing.

[Terri]

I use boillion cubes instead of broth. Just a thought.

[Jenny]

Terri, bullion cubes are full of MSG. At least every kind I've found. I used to love using things like that for extra flavor in all sorts of things, but I've learned to enjoy food using simple herbs and spices.

[lacyj]

I use this stuff when I need a more concentrated flavor.
I usually add it to canned broth.
You can boil down your own broth and pop it into ice cubes for later use. Then store it in zip-locks in the freezer.

[Chuck]

Here's a link to the Weston A. Price foundation: www.westonaprice.org

They have absolutely wonderful information on their site! I would strongly encourage anyone to visit the site and refer to it frequently. I do! (This is Jenny) Here's one of their links to making broth so that you preserve the nutrients and get the most out of it. www.westonaprice.org/foodfeatures/broth.html

There is information in that article on making broth, the benefits of homemade broth, and info on MSG. If you go to their home page, you'll find wonderful topics on the left. We found the Weston Price Foundation site after we adopted our second son who had horrible digestive problems and a genetic metabolic abnormality. The more we followed what the doctors told us, the sicker he became until he almost died. We started following the suggestions in the site and there was an incredible difference immediately. He suddenly began to thrive. Within 2 weeks he was an entirely new, healthy baby. Anyway, this site is great!

Best wishes,

Jenny

[Washkeeton]

Thanks for the sites Jenny. Love them. When I butcher my chickens here in the next few weeks I will make sure to make chicken stock out of them so I dont have to use the bullion.

[Kristianna]

This is a great thread, very eye opening, as Marcie said.

I second the Weston Price website. I love that site.