Broth is a flavorful liquid made by simmering meat, bones, or vegetables in water for a long time. When you make chicken broth, you simmer chicken parts in water with vegetables like carrots and celery, letting all the flavors seep into the liquid. The result is a savory, warming liquid that forms the base for soups, stews, and many other dishes.

Broth has nourished people for thousands of years because it extracts nutrients and flavor from ingredients that might otherwise go to waste. A cook might simmer leftover bones overnight to create a rich broth, then use it days later to make chicken noodle soup or risotto. Many cultures have their own traditional broths: Japanese dashi made from seaweed and fish, Vietnamese pho broth simmered with spices, or French bouillon cooked with herbs.

The word appears in the saying “too many cooks spoil the broth,” meaning that when too many people try to control something, they ruin it. When someone's sick, a bowl of warm broth is often the first thing families offer, both for its nutrition and its comfort.