Many people come in-store specifically for our locally made chicken and beef bone broths from The Broth Sisters. Whether you’re looking for a “daily health tonic”, or to add some flavour to your cooking, it’s the perfect product – without the waste. This month, we got the chance to chat with owner Linda to discuss the origins of the business and how her upbringing influenced the product she makes.

Who are you and what do you make?
I'm Linda. I'm one of the Broth Sisters. I started the business with my sister about six years ago, [it’s now owned by Linda and her partner Nic] and we primarily produce bone broth that's handmade here in Port Melbourne.

How long ago did you start making bone broth? And how did that take off?
Prior to giving birth to my son, eight years ago, I studied health coaching and nutrition. I was very much into food products that were functional for health, and I was making broth for myself. After that, my sister said, “you should start selling bone broth”, because there was a gap in the market. So that's what we did, we started making and selling it. There was no real intention of where we wanted to go, but we started at farmer's markets, and it organically grew from there.

You mentioned that you identified a gap in the market, what gap do you fill?
There's not really any other bone broth on the market the same as ours – especially in Victoria – that’s a traditionally prepared, homestyle, authentic bone broth. There's [only] dehydrated powders and concentrates that you wouldn't make yourself at home.

What problem do you solve for people?
We save people a lot of time. Not everyone's got two days to prepare a pot of broth… I've [also] had customers tell me that they hate the smell of cooking broth, that partners will only let it cook in the laundry, and that it's very messy to clean-up. So, it's the time, the effort and the technique… and it tastes good, so we’ve solved that problem as well.

Who is your broth for?
The main reason we produced it was for people to consume for the health benefits, but it also makes meals taste really good. So, if you want a nice healthy, authentic, homemade flavour in your food, then it’ll contribute to a nice risotto or some great soups as well.

How did your upbringing influence what you do?
It was a great upbringing because it exposed us to so many different foods and flavours. We had our own chickens, goats, cows; we had avocados, pineapples, bananas, papaya, coffee – you name it. It was all happening. And, we didn't call it bone broth back then, but there was always chicken soup sitting on the stove a couple of times a week. The recipe that we use [now] is pretty much a family recipe, but it has been tweaked slightly with a few different herbs, just to modernise the flavours.

How did your dad influence what you do?
My dad was always interested in finding new things – which he passed on to me. Someone would introduce a new plant to him, and he’d be very intrigued by it, he’d be like, ‘okay, let's plant this’. Where we came from, you didn’t find a lot of people – especially back then – that were experimental with food. The stuff that you'd only find in delis back then are mainstream now. I remember when avocados became a thing, it was in the 80s… but we had it in our garden already. I feel blessed that I had that exposure to food at a young age.

The Source Malvern is all about reducing plastic, how do you guys try to reduce plastic?
We try to avoid any mistakes. Our products are in glass jars, we try and buy biodegradable, we've got our broth bags in unbleached paper, and then there's a little sleeve that we put those in as well – that's also home compostable. And with anything that we send out to our customers online we use a recycled paper liner, which keeps it cool. So yeah, we try and leave as little trace as possible on the environment.