A Jar Full of Vegetable Stock

I'm frequently saying to myself that I really ought to make my own vegetable stock but I never seem to have the time and so reach for the stock cube jar; so how exciting to find a recipe for a homemade version of the stock cube.

I can heartily recommend River Cottage Handbook No 2 Preserves as a mine of interesting preserving ideas amongst which can be found a recipe for a preserved vegetable stock mix.  I amended the recipe to suit the vegetables I had available and basically it goes like this:

Ingredients
Makes about 3 jars
about 900g washed, peeled and chopped vegetables (I used leek, onion, courgette, peppers, runner beans, carrots)
3 cloves garlic
200g fresh herbs (I used thyme, sage, rosemary and parsley)
250g salt (don't reduce the amount of salt as this is the preservative)

Method
Place all the ingredients in a food processor and process until blended to a granular paste. Then simply put into sterilised jars and seal.  The 'stock cube' paste will keep for six months unopened. Once opened keep in the fridge for up to 6 weeks.

Note: The recipe recommends adding 2 tsp to 500ml of water to make the stock.  I found this a bit salty for my taste so added 2 tsp to 1lt of water.