Whenever I look at the supermarket stock section, I feel overwhelmed. There’s a sea of brands and forms: some are powdered, some are jelly-like concentrates, some come as ultra-dense cubes and others are liquid with product names like Immune Gut Well Being Beef Bone Broth. Some are $2, others are $44.

The sheer variety raises so many questions. How are they made? How should I be using them? Do any of them have more nutritional value? How do they affect my cooking? And how do they compare to homemade stock? I asked three experts for answers.

Liquid stocks and bone broths

Best for: replicating the taste of a homemade stock

Price: $1.90 to $17.80 per litre

The liquid stocks you see in cartons and flabby bags are made the same way you make stock at home – but on an industrial scale. Zhongxiang Fang, associate professor of food processing at the University of Melbourne, says the stocks have been sterilised and the packaging prevents microbial invasions. Like canned food, they can last for a long time on the shelf.

Some liquid products are labelled “bone broth” and others “stock” – but it can be confusing to tell exactly what the difference is. Conventionally, bone broth is made with only water and bones, but brands that sell both have their own definitions. Having tasted and compared many Australian supermarket stocks, bone broths tend to have more protein, less salt, fewer ingredients and higher prices. They also make more health claims on the packets.

“Bone broth has a lot of hype around it. However, there is limited research for a lot of the claims,” says Maggie Sewell, a dietitian at The Good Nutrition Co. Sewell says supermarket bone broths won’t have enough collagen, or the right form of collagen, for your body to efficiently absorb it. “If I was looking for collagen intake, I would go for a hydrolysed collagen supplement,” she says.

Nutritionally, liquids are still the best options, Sewell says, because of the protein content and generally lower salt levels. There may be micronutrients present from any bones, meat or vegetables used – ingredients less common in dry stock products – but not many. “There’s very little nutrition content in [supermarket stocks], you’d get a lot more benefit out of adding this into a meal that has vegetables and proteins.”

Liquid stocks taste the closest to homemade – mildly chicken-y or beef-y and with a bit of richness. If you drank most supermarket brands on their own, you’d likely be unimpressed by their intensity. Keita Abe – chef and owner of Japanese yakitori restaurant Chaco Bar in Sydney – says this is a good thing, because it gives you more control of a dish’s overall flavour. “Never use it on its own as a soup,” he says. “The purpose is to give a boost of flavour to what you’re cooking.”

Powdered stock and bouillon cubes

Best for: adding umami and salt

Price: 13c to $14.70 per litre made

If you’re going to buy just one product to sit in your pantry, get powdered stock, says Abe. “Powder is the most versatile and useful stock to buy, the cubes are the hardest to use.”

Many supermarket cubes and powders are made from MSG, salt, sugar, spices, herbs and other flavours and additives, although Fang says theoretically powders and cubes can begin life as a liquid stock that is then reduced through industrial processes. Bouillon cubes are similar, but with moisture and starches added to bind the cube.

“Typically … you would expect there to be very, very little nutrient content. They’re just a bunch of flavours,” Sewell says. “They’re not detrimental, they’re just not adding anything except salt to your diet.” The exceptions are products primarily made from dehydrated stock by brands such as Nutra Organics or Broth of Life – which can cost more than $40 a tin.

Instead of using them like liquid stock, use them as a flavour enhancer as you would MSG or nutritional yeast, says Abe. “Sprinkle it into fried rice, add it to your rice cooker, use it in pasta sauce for extra umami.” Due to the starches common in powders and cubes, they’re also useful sauce thickeners. But he warns they can lack depth of flavour, so it’s best to add fat too.

Concentrated stocks

Best for: adding meaty flavours

Price: $8 to $9 per litre made

Concentrates are the jelly-like, condensed forms of stocks usually found in jars or small, individually portioned plastic containers. Fang says they’re typically made like any concentrate: by evaporating the water content and condensing the flavour.

As with the other products, Sewell recommends checking the ingredient and nutrition panels for protein and salt amounts. “A low amount of salt would be 120mg of sodium or less per 100g or 100ml. 400mg is a moderate amount.”

Concentrates can deliver a strong meaty flavour that other products lack, but that intensity means using them sparingly. Abe says they work well in a thick, powerful sauces like gravies.

Homemade

Best for: depth of flavour

If you’re using meat, bones and vegetables, a homemade stock can potentially deliver more nutrients than store-bought options – but they’re no superfood. “There have been analyses done on stocks; they’re generally very low in nutrients,” Sewell says.

The advantage of homemade stock is the depth of flavour and, if you’re using leftover bones and vegetable scraps, cost. Having made and tasted countless stocks, I can say homemade easily outcompetes store-bought options in depth of flavour – but not in intensity. If you just want a meaty punch, a concentrate will deliver that for a low cost, and if you need a savoury boost, a powdered stock is cheap and versatile.

Homemade stock also takes time. Abe’s thick, powerful, meaty stock at Chaco Bar takes three hours. At home, I’ve found stock needs a minimum 90 minutes on the stove (half the time in a pressure cooker) to develop a decent amount of flavour. If you do make your own, Abe says you’ll get more flavour, richness and viscosity if you smash the bones, so they release their marrow and gelatine.

He also says removing the impurities or scum on top, like many recipes recommend, is optional. “People think the stuff that comes to the top is really yucky. The impurities are just part of the flavour.”