Several weeks ago, we bought some Rick's Picks Kool Gherks. They were delicious, but they didn't last long. And when we'd finished them, we realized we had a beautiful, flavorful brine full of peppercorns and herbs and garlic cloves that we hated to throw out. Especially since we spent about $8 or so on the jar.
We remembered a tip Rick had given us more than a year ago about reusing brine. Well, this one has given us three batches of excellent pickles since...
Once we'd polished off our gherks, we sliced a squatty pickling cucumber into wedges and shoved them in the jar. They didn't quite fit, and the brine didn't quite cover them.
So, we transferred the brine to a larger plastic container. Because the brine still didn't cover the cucumber spears (slices probably would have been easier), we decided to add to the brine. We boiled some cider vinegar with a little sugar and salt, until everything dissolved, and poured it on top.
Now, we got some spicy, sweet, very delicious pickles out of this because Rick's original brine is full of high-quality ingredients (that's why the jar cost $8). As we said, there were tons of whole spices, big chunks of garlic, and fronds of herbs to season our cucumbers. We're not sure we'd have bothered reusing the brine if it had been a cheap jar of pickles. But with almost zero effort on our part, we got several batches of Rick's-quality pickles for the cost of one jar (plus a few cucumbers).
You could also add other vegetables, not just cucumbers.
Here are a few more tips and discussions on reusing leftover pickle brine:
• What Can I Do With Leftover Pickle Juice?
• Quick Tip: Use Leftover Pickling Brine to Make Vinaigrette
• Waste Not: Using Leftover Rick's Picks Brine
Related: Cooking Basics: Very Easy Pickling
(Image: Rick's Picks)
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Use it in a bloody mary. This is what we do w/our leftover olive juice as well.
Obviously the olive juice in the above post is for martini's. :-)
Now that is what I call recycling! And how doubly green those pickles are, not just as cucumbers, but as earth-friendly and wallet-wise. I would never have thought of this, but it is brilliant.
Easy pickled eggs, just add a few peeled hard boiled eggs and voila! (after a few days of course) So good with cheese and crackers.
My husband throws in boiled eggs. I can't stand pickled eggs but it makes him happy!
If I have some on hand, I always use pickle juice in my chicken salad instead of vinegar or lemon juice. It was in my mother's recipe, which I think she got from one of those old Southern department stores (Thalhimers, probably). I also have a great recipe for a grilled chicken sandwich that calls for marinating the chicken in pickle juice first - that one came from the Atlanta Journal, so maybe it's a Southern thing? It gives chicken a nice flavor without being overwhelming.
I always run out of pickle juice before I eat all the pickles in the jar, so I top it off with some vinegar to make more delicious juice!
I like to use pickle juice in my potato salad! It just adds a certain depth to the flavour. Everyone is always asking me for my recipe. .. And now you all have the secret!!
toberead:Pickle juice in potato salad....hmmm. Will have to try that one. Sounds good!
I swish out sea salt containers with water and use it in soups. Now that's frugal! ;-))
I like pickled radishes in my leftover brine. Also try pickle juice (dill obviously) in place of olive juice in a gin martini. I'm normally a martini purist but its pretty good actually.
But you should really only use the brine once or twice (and always kept refrigerated) since whatever you drop in it is introducing bacteria and its not being heat treated.