My great grandmother's roast and the importance of asking why.

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September 1, 2023

Have you heard this story?

I asked my mother, "Mom, how do you cook a roast? I want to make it just like I remember it growing up." She replied, "Well, first you cut it in half, and then you put it in the pan..." I interrupted, "But wait, why do you cut it in half?" My mom said, "I don't know, ask Grandma. She's the one who taught me how to make it."

So I quickly dialed my grandmother and asked, "Grandma, how you you cook a roast? Your roasts are just so delicious." My grandmother replied, "Well, first you cut it in half..." And there I went interrupting again, "But Grandma, why do you cut it in half?" My grandmother replied, "Honestly, I don't know. It's how my mom did it. Why don't you call Great Grandma?"

So onward I went. I called my great grandmother and asked, "Great Grandma, how do you cook a roast?" She started out as expected, "Well, first you cut it in half..." And of course I interrupted, "But Great Grandma, why!? Why do you cut it in half!?"

She replied, "Well, because the ovens back then were so small a whole roast couldn't fit. So, I had to cut the roast in half, and I've been doing it that way ever since." 🤦‍♀️

This is a folk tale, but it holds so much truth.

We often do things a certain way simply because that's how they've been done or we've been doing them for a long time. You absolutely do not need to cut a roast in half when using a big modern oven! In fact, a larger roast is better since it's more forgiving and cooks more evenly.

We were all born curious. Think about how many times a fiery 3-5 year old asks "why" in a day. But somewhere along the path of becoming a grown-up, we lose that curiosity. The system trains us to do as we're told, believe what we're told, to fit in and find our place. Our fire dims, and maybe we even lose a piece of ourselves in that process.

At Miller's Bio Farm, we say no. We have to ask questions, and we do it all the time. It's the only way to work towards a better food future. We can't be satisfied with what's handed to us. We have to fan them flames of curiosity back to life.

It's a big reason we don't get certifications like "grass fed" or "regenerative" or "certified organic". We want to be able to ask why and figure out the best way forward ourselves, not just because a certifier says so.

All that being said, asking why is one thing, but coming up with an answer to inform a decision is another thing. So, how do you find those answers? Well, research of course.

That's why Miller's Bio Farm provides you with so much info on our website and goes above and beyond to answer questions. If we don't know, we'll do everything we can to find out.

And, honestly, some answers you may not want to know. Do you know how disappointed I was to find out that there are trace amounts of lab-produced additives in our cheese cultures and that there aren't any other options out there? What was the farm to do? Ignore it? Nope, we added that to the honest disclosure on every cultured cheese we offer.

This is how we enable and empower you to be a smart natural food shopper. We want you to ask why, too!

So, anything on your mind? What are you wondering about lately? I'd love to hear from you!

Raw milk or fermented dairy and lactose intolerance. Why might it help?

I was misinformed. At some point, I read that raw milk contains lactase. As it turns out, this is not true! It is true that raw milk contains many live enzymes that are inactivated during pasteurization. But, what about lactase? I’ve heard many anecdotal stories from people who are lactose intolerant... but can handle raw milk or fermented dairy. If raw milk, yogurt, kefir, or cheese doesn’t contain lactase, then why is that?

Our bone broth tested negative-ish for heavy metals 🥳 NATURAL AND CLEAN

Over the past few months a bunch of people asked us if we tested our bone broth for toxic heavy metals. When we get the same question a lot, we of course look into it. My first question was --- Is there an issue with toxic metals in bone broth? As it turns out, yes, there "can" be an issue! Heavy metals are naturally present in our environment. We need the "good" heavy metals to thrive: iron, zinc, magnesium, copper, etc. But, we can 100% do without the toxic heavy metals: arsenic, cadmium, lead, mercury, etc. Too many toxic heavy metals can lead to a host of pretty awful issues: nervous system damage, cardiovascular issues, cancer, endocrine disruption, kidney damage, and so on. Our body is designed to excrete heavy metals through urine (and a little bit through sweat, hair, and breastmilk too)... but only so much. There's a limit. If you're overloaded, your body will store those heavy metals in your bones, blood, tissues, and organs. Similarly, if an animal is exposed to heavy metals via food, water, air, dust, or soil, those heavy metals accumulate in the bones. Maybe the farm's soil or air is contaminated from a nearby factory. Maybe the pipes for the water has lead solder connecting them. Maybe the feed a farm is buying was grown on contaminated soil or processed on contaminated equipment. And, of course, a main purpose of bone broth is drawing out as much as possible from the bones. If there are heavy metals in bones, they will make their way into the broth. This is especially true when you pre-soak with apple cider vinegar and simmer for 48 hours to make it thick and gelatinous (like our broth). And that led me to my second question --- Should I be concerned about every bone broth? Where is the fear coming from? Well... it seems it might be a little political. There was a study done in the UK in 2013 that scared a lot of people. It's titled "The Risk of Lead Contamination in Bone Broth Diets". This study found high levels of lead in organic chicken bone broth, which is quite concerning. And, in fact, this one study is still cited in articles written today! Let's dig a little deeper. Let's go farther than the short abstract. Here are the broths tested in the study and their test results for lead: (9.5 parts per billion): Broth made from tap water plus skin and cartilage(7.01 parts per billion): Broth made from tap water plus bones(2.3 parts per billion): Broth made from tap water plus meat(0.89 parts per billion): Tap water alone cooked for the same amount of time as a control. But, they only used organic chicken from one farm. And, there's zero information about that farm, their practices, the feed, and the broth recipe. Did they use vinegar or wine in the broth? Was the chicken's water contaminated with lead? What was the quality of the feed and the soil? Were the chickens raised indoors or outdoors? So many unanswered questions! All we get is that it was one "organic chicken" that created a lead issue with broth. Another curious thing is that the broth with skin and cartilage contained more lead than the broth made with just bones. Bones are where lead is stored, so why wouldn't the broth made with bones only contain more lead? It's an odd result. Moreover, the abstract of the study specifically called out "bone broth diets" like GAPS and paleo. They even go so far as to write, "In view of the dangers of lead consumption to the human body, we recommend that doctors and nutritionists take the risk of lead contamination into consideration when advising patients about bone broth diets." That's quite curious. Why are they worried about these diets? Are the researchers anti healing through food? Who funded the research? Is it political? My opinion? This study is not comprehensive. It does not speak to all bone broths. But it does cover a potential issue if the water or animals are overloaded with heavy metals. What I glean from this study is that we need more research. We don't need fear to spread and people to stop drinking broth from this one study. Regardless of whether the fear was fabricated or legit, we tested our bone broth anyway. After all, it's always nice to validate that your food choices are as clean as you think. For Miller's, here were my concerns before testing: What if there's mercury in the fishmeal in our chicken feed?What if the soil that our animals live on is contaminated?What is the well water that the broth is made with is contaminated?What if the Celtic sea salt has lots of heavy metals? We got the test results back. I was super excited. But, I was also confused. At face value, it appeared that our bone broth tested NEGATIVE for arsenic, cadmium, lead, and mercury. You can find the test results right here! You'll notice that, for every sample, the results are "<0.01 mg/kg" and "<0.02 mg/kg". I asked the lab what the "<" means. They said that it indicates their limit of quantitation (LOQ), the lowest concentration that can be accurately tested using the test procedure in that sample type. So the results simply report that none of the metals tested were found in the sample above the specific reporting LOQs. Whether or not they were present below this LOQ is information that is not provided by the test. When talking to the lab, I told them what we needed and assumed that this test would go below a 1 ppb. So, when the results came in, I assumed that a "mg/kg" was the same as a part per billion (ppb). Ummm... that math wasn't write! A "mg/kg" is actually a part per million (ppm). That means that the test we ran had results saying that the broth had less than 0.02 ppm (or 20 ppb) of arsenic and lead. And, it had less than 0.01 ppm (or 10 ppb) of cadmium and mercury. For some reference, the EPA says that less than 15 ppb of lead is safe in drinking water. Not saying that I agree, but it's a good reference point. These results are good. It means the broth definitely isn't overloaded with toxic heavy metals. But, it's not good enough!!! We need to test again! We really need to a lower LOQ. We need to know the results with an accuracy of as low as 1 ppb. It looks like the lab we sent the original samples to doesn't have an LOQ that low. So here I am on the hunt for a lab to do it again. As soon as I can, I'll send samples in again and paying for more expensive testing to get the info you deserve. Stay tuned! I hope to have the new results in by the end of April 2025. Do you worry about toxic metals (or other junk) in your food? Where have your fears stemmed from? I'd love to hear from you. You can comment below (no account required) or contact us 😊 ----- Sources The risk of lead contamination in bone broth dietsBone Broth and Lead Toxicity: Should You Be Concerned?Bone Broth and Lead Contamination: A Very Flawed Study in Medical HypothesesBone Broth, Collagen, and Toxic Metals: A Research Review

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My great grandmother's roast and the importance of asking why.

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