Collagen-rich chicken feet cleaned and stewed slowly in seasoned broth. The original bone broth before bone broth had a price tag.
In Black households where the whole animal was used because nothing was wasted, chicken feet were a given. Black grandmothers in the rural South made them because the feet came with the bird and you used everything. In the urban North and West, Black families found chicken feet at Chinese restaurants before they found them in mainstream grocery stores. The fact that a $40 bottle of collagen supplements contains what a pot of chicken feet delivers for under three dollars is not irony — it is the market deciding who gets to know the value of what Black cooks always knew.
Chicken feet are among the highest natural sources of collagen peptides available. Glycine and proline — abundant in collagen — support gut lining repair, joint cartilage, and skin elasticity. Glucosamine and chondroitin directly support joint health; at therapeutic levels these compounds are sold as supplements for $30 a bottle. A pot of stewed chicken feet delivers them at grocery-store chicken prices. The slow stew releases these compounds fully into the broth.
Clean chicken feet thoroughly — remove the outer yellow skin by blanching in boiling water 2-3 minutes and peeling. Clip the nails with kitchen scissors. Simmer in seasoned broth with onion, garlic, ginger, scotch bonnet or habanero, bay leaves, thyme, and black pepper for 2-3 hours until the skin and cartilage are fully tender. The broth becomes gelatinous when cooled — this is the collagen you want. Eat the soft cartilage and skin; the bones are not for eating.
Free, no account needed to ask.