NYC’s latest health trend is a steaming cup of bone broth

By Joanna Prisco
January 3, 2015 | 3:43pm

Draped in wool capes, floppy berets and over-the-knee boots, a crowd lines up 15-deep on a frigid New York City afternoon to purchase the new cold-weather must. But this isn’t an A.P.C. sample sale. They’re queued up for . . . broth?

Beauty creams and Flywheel are all well and good, but a growing contingency of sleek-bodied New Yorkers insist that the secret to good looks is all about the bones, as in broth. In November, chef Marco Canora opened Brodo — a teeny-tiny take-away window at his East Village Italian restaurant Hearth, serving only steaming stock. The fashionable masses have been flocking for cups of the stuff, and paying from $4 to $9 for it.

Low in sodium but rich in collagen, and boasting alleged benefits from shinier hair to dewier complexions, broth is the new black for health- and beauty-conscious types across the city.

“I can’t fill the demand that I have already,” says Canora, who recently had to purchase a second stove to keep pace, as a batch of his broth takes 18 hours to prepare. “A lot of people are choosing it as an alternative beverage instead of their second or third coffee in the afternoon, or when that pang of hunger hits a few hours before dinner.”

Created from boiling down various animal bones to create a nutrient-rich stock, the mainstays of the Brodo menu include Hearth broth (a combination of turkey, chicken and beef), organic chicken and gingered beef. From there, patrons can customize their beverage with 75-cent add-ins, such as Calabrian chili oil or shiitake mushroom tea, to create layered flavor profiles.

“We get a lot of people who are already onboard with gut wellness, a lot of SoulCycle types and a lot of beautiful women,” says Canora. “Two of the biggest things in bone broth are collagen and gelatin, and both are really good for hair and nails and skin.”

Fashion model and founder of the online journal impatientfoodie.com, Elettra Rossellini Wiedemann, is one such leggy loyal.

“I was already familiar with broths because it’s the base of a lot of Italian recipes, but it wasn’t until Canora’s Brodo that I reconnected with how good and satisfying it can be,” says Wiedemann, 31. “I like the taste, but if it gives me flowing locks and glowing skin, then that’s a bonus!”

Actress and model Lauren Bonner, 23, was inspired to try bone broth after a personal trainer told her about its beauty-boosting abilities. And Ali Hanrahan, 25, decided check out to Brodo after reading about it in a fashion news blast.

“My boyfriend and I were talking about how cool it sounded and I just really wanted to try it,” says Hanrahan, who is launching a vintage clothing start-up called Goldnix.

Brodo is currently only available for pickup via its take-away window or as a sampler menu at Hearth, but Canora, who just published a healthy cookbook called “A Good Food Day,” is exploring other places to sell it.

In the meantime, butchers, such as Hudson & Charles in the West Village and Fleisher’s in Park Slope, are also ladling out the savory beverage.

“We have definitely seen an uptick in business of late,” says Sophie Grant of Fleisher’s, which produces bone broth from pasture-raised beef bones, organic chicken bones, pastured pork bones, bacon skins and pastured lamb bones.

A handful of startup broth delivery services have also emerged over the last year to bring the brew right to your door. Bone Deep & Harmony offers a monthly service ($162) that home delivers 3 quarts of broth per week, while the Oliver Weston Company sells 16-ounce and 32-ounce containers of the nourishing liquid beginning at $7 per jar.

“My hair and nails never split or peel now, compared to six years ago when I was eating a standard American diet of mostly processed food,” says 33-year-old broth devotee Hannah Springer, co-owner of the Oliver Weston Company. “Daily bone broth — 1 to 2 cups — combined with traditional fats like butter, coconut oil and beef tallow, definitely keep the wrinkles at bay.”

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— Last Edited by Greentea at 2015-01-16 07:33:40 —