Organic Bouillon Cubes and Stock Powders

Some of these stocks dissolve whole in a pot of water, others you spoon in like a seasoning. That difference decides which format suits the way you cook. Our bouillon cubes and stock powders cover both routes, from measured 11 g cubes to granules and powders dosed by the tablespoon. Read on to see what goes into each format and how much water each one takes!

What is in an organic bouillon cube?

Organic stock cubes here start from the same short list – dried vegetables, sea salt, a starch or flour that binds them, plant oil and herbs. The vegetable share runs from 9.2 to 13.5 per cent, depending on the maker. In the NaturaVena cube it is onion, tomato, leek, carrot, pepper and celery, with garlic, nutmeg, turmeric, lovage and thyme behind them. The Dary Natury powder takes another route and stands on potato at 20 per cent.

What a product leaves out belongs to its own label rather than to the shelf. Yeast extract sits in the Alce Nero cube and in the Bio Oaza range, while the NaturaVena card declares none. Gluten free stock cubes here are the NaturaVena and Bio Oaza lines, both of which carry that declaration. The Alce Nero cube and the Dary Natury powder warn instead that gluten may be present.

Vegetable, poultry or beef: which stock to choose

Vegetable is the one to reach for when a single pack has to fit every pot. A vegetable bouillon carries onion, carrot and celery, so it works under soup, risotto and braised vegetables alike. Alce Nero and Dary Natury keep to that single route.

A beef stock cube gives the darker, rounder base that suits stews and gravies. For lighter broths and for rice, a chicken stock cube or the poultry version is the closer match. On an evening when you would rather finish a dish from a jar, our sauces shelf covers that instead.

How much water do you use per cube?

One 11 g NaturaVena cube dissolves in half a litre of boiling water. Bouillon cubes are portioned for exactly this reason, so the measuring is done before the box reaches you. Alce Nero works to the same half litre from its own cube.

Salt on the NaturaVena and Alce Nero labels reads high, at roughly a third to a half of the dry weight. Nobody eats a cube dry, though – 11 g of it ends up in 500 ml of liquid. The same description here runs in English and in Polish, so the composition of a cube is there in the language you cook in. Measure the cube against the volume of stock you actually cook, rather than the pan you have out.

Bouillon powder and granulated stock

A cube arrives portioned, a powder does not, and that is the whole practical difference. Ten grams, about a level tablespoon, of the Alce Nero granules makes half a litre of stock. The Dary Natury vegetable broth powder works to the same spoon and is built on potato rather than starch.

Both also go in dry, straight onto roasting vegetables or into a pan of rice, which no cube manages without dissolving first. The granules and the NaturaVena bouillon cubes sit on our organic spices shelf as well – the same packs on two shelves. Organic bouillon in this form lets you season by taste, adding a spoonful and then judging the pot.

Cooking with stock instead of ready sauces

A pan of stock gives you a base you can steer, with the salt, the herbs and the strength decided in the pot. Half a litre from one cube covers a risotto, a soup base or the liquid for braising. A pinch from our dried herbs shelf then takes it wherever the dish needs to go. Every product on this shelf carries organic certification.