Mushroom stock handy for a variety of recipes

By Ellen Kanner
Knight Ridder News Service

Stock is a staple — the backdrop for stews, pastas and risotti, and the star of soups. But whereas chicken broth adds a golden note of richness, prepared vegetable stock can taste downright funky. Or salty. Sometimes staggeringly so.

Swanson vegetable broth, available in most grocery stores, is 99 percent fat free, but so what? With 940 milligrams of sodium per cup, you could kill leeches with it.

Health Valley fat-free vegetable broth boasts it has 60 percent less sodium (360 milligrams per cup) than the leading brand, whatever that is. Unfortunately, it tastes like old onions.

Kitchen Basics roasted vegetable stock weighs in with only 330 milligrams of sodium per cup. Earnest and organic, it's passive in the mouth, but it won't blast you with salt.

Here's an easy alternative: Dried mushrooms — porcini, shiitake and such. Drop a good handful of dried mushrooms into a bowl and cover with 2 cups boiling water. Thirty minutes later, strain, season with salt, pepper and garlic powder and you've got 16 ounces of rich, woodsy stock. Add the mushrooms to your recipe or save them for later.