BONELUST Q&A: "Why is it bad to boil bones? It is the way I was taught to clean them a long time ago."

I took these surplus deer leg bones & scapula to show you why. After only a couple hours of boiling them I could push my finger through these large previously very solid deer leg bones with no effort & bend the scapula right in half. A rolling boil is very detrimental to the structure of bones. You literally cook off tiny pieces that hold it together. Even a very low heated slow simmer can eventually destroy bones. Especially ones smaller than these. I think many people learned the oldschool word-of-mouth techniques of bone processing which are to boil & bleach them. Even I started of experimenting with that & quickly found out it was a terribly bad idea. I've spent the last 35 years processing my own bones & now use the most delicate processes to keep them structurally sound for the long run. I share this priceless info freely with you so that you don't make the same mistakes I did. Stick to cold water maceration to have strong solid bones. Just takes more patience. Even if you don't see obvious damage to your bones after using a heated water process you have likely caused structural damage to your bone. Bone simply is not meant to be heated unless you are cooking off the flesh to eat & don't intend to keep the bones.

For much more info about this & why chlorine bleach is also bad read my related blog post Bad Words: Bleach & Boil