Give Your Pickle Juice a Second Life

Pickle juice. Olive brine. The liquid leftover from a pack of feta or fresh mozzarella. What do these four things have in common? They're trash. Well, usually—what I mean is, too often we're all eating the pickles or olives or feta or mozzarella that these liquids were preserving, and then tossing out the liquids themselves.

The thing is, most of these flavorful liquids can be used in your cooking—and can make your everyday weeknight recipes even better.

To learn more practical uses for pickle brine and all the others, I turned to Jeremy Umansky, chef of Larder in Cleveland and co-author of the forthcoming Koji Alchemy, who is well-known in the restaurant industry for running a low-waste kitchen. Here are a few ideas we discussed.

What to Do With Leftover Brine

You probably have a fridge full of brine right now. You get it with every type of pickle (cucumbers, jalapeños, cherry peppers, beets), with jars of roasted red peppers, olives, that floating block of feta. But let's break it down. That brine is probably some combination of vinegar, salt, and often sugar. Another thing that starts with vinegar, salt, and sugar: salad dressing. So mix your brine (or the liquid from a jar of sauerkraut or kimchi) with oil to start a salad dressing. Depending on how sweet your brine is you may want to add a little honey for a boost or a little hot mustard to make things sharper.

If your pickle juice or other brine is brightly flavored, you can also use it to serve crudité the way my coworkers Anna Stockwell and Emily Johnson do. Just skip the lime juice in the recipe and drizzle a bit of brine over the veg instead, dust with chile powder (or a mix of spices inspired by whatever was in the brine). Consider the party started.

Still have some brine in that jar? Umansky loves to use leftover brine or pickle juice as a marinade for meat and vegetables. "Take a raw cut of meat or veg, before you go to work, put it in a container [in the fridge] with leftover brine. When you get home, it’s ready to cook any way you want." He even says you can leave meat in a brine for an extra day (in case you forget about it or get home later than expected and don't feel like cooking) without fear of going too far, since most store-bought briny things "don't go over 5% salt." Think about combining leftover feta, olive, and red pepper brines for a Greek-inspired chicken dish and you'll have some idea of the possibilities here.

He also notes that pickle juice "makes a great sweet-and-sour sauce" which he uses to glaze grilled chicken or a pork roast. Umansky recommends combining equal parts pickle juice and sugar—although, if you have a very sweet pickle brine, you might want to dial back the sugar a bit—then toss in a few smashed cloves of garlic and a dash of chile flakes. Bring the mixture to a boil and then let it cool. Use a brush to spread it on roasting or grilling meats a few times while they cook—or, he says, "stir-fry some shrimp and diced pineapple, then pour some of the sweet-and-sour sauce over and sauté to glaze." Spill the whole thing over rice and you've got a really great, quick dinner.

Into flavored seltzer? (Who isn't?) Umansky also likes to make a double-strength simple syrup (that's two parts sugar to one part brine—heated just to dissolve the sugar, then cooled) to use as a base for sodas and cocktails. Start with ¾ ounce of syrup per cup of seltzer, and add 1½ ounces vodka if desired. Your results, of course, will depend on the pickle you choose. Personally, I'd love it with the juice leftover from beet pickles. If you want to try it with dill pickle juice...well, you do you.

You could also make your own quick pickles using leftover brine. Just slip raw sliced vegetables into that brine—make sure they're totally submerged—and stick in your fridge for about a week. These aren't the kind of pickles you store for the winter, but it's a great way to turn out a fresh batch using up anything that's been lingering in your crisper drawer.

What to Do With Leftover Whey

Whey is the liquid that keeps a ball of fresh mozzarella fresh. It's also the liquid you get when you strain yogurt to make it thicker or make homemade cheese. And it needn't go to waste. You can use whey in practically any of the ways you might use buttermilk, which is often a thicker product, but has comparable acidity.

I've found that swapping out buttermilk for an equal amount of whey in cornbread produces a lighter loaf that's just as moist and tender as cornbread made with buttermilk—and it has the same level of tang that makes buttermilk cornbread so delicious. You could also blend it into a smoothie (it's high in protein) or add it to soup for a bright boost of flavor.

If you're making pasta—which you very well may be if there's fresh mozz on the menu—go ahead and use the whey as part of your pasta cooking water—or as part of the sauce.

What to Do With Leftover Bean Cooking Liquid

Using the liquid leftover from a can of beans—or even from making homemade beans—became a thing a few years ago. But you don't have to save aquafaba for vegan meringues or foamy cocktails. Just keep in mind that these liquids may be salty, depending on how they were made.

Umansky says he uses bean cooking liquid "as a binder when making sausage." Similarly, he says you could replace each egg in your sausage or meatloaf recipe with 3 tablespoons of bean liquid to give the finished product more umami punch.

Again, you could also use this liquid as a soup base—just store until the next time you make chili or minestrone and use the bean liquid instead of or in addition to stock.

What to Do With Leftover Liquid From Canned Tuna

Making seafood chowder? Cioppino? Toss this stuff in—think of it like fish stock, or clam juice, or a really diluted fish sauce.

Stop hanging on to that last spoonful of hot chili jam from three years ago—it's time for it to go.

What to Do With Leftover Liquid From Tofu

The liquid in tofu is usually just plain water. So, if you're making soup with the tofu, save it to add to the broth.

What to Do With Leftover Oils

You might have oil from a jar of anchovies, marinated cheese, sun-dried tomatoes, or cured olives. All of these oils are great for salad dressing—packed with the flavor of whatever was stored in them. Use them in conjunction with vinegar or citrus (or leftover pickle juice) and go full-speed ahead with your no-waste self.

If you have leftover frying oil, you can strain it and stash it in the fridge for one or two more rounds of frying. After that you're best off disposing of it responsibly.

What to Do With Leftover Poaching Liquids

So you braised a pastrami, or you poached a few chicken breasts. Instead of dumping out that flavorful liquid, Umansky suggests turning it into a Worcestershire-like condiment by mixing about "1 quart of poaching liquid with 1 cup koji and roughly 2 to 3 tablespoons salt (depending on how salty the liquid you're working with already is)." Koji is a culinary mold that's used to make miso. Umansky lets that mixture ferment for two to four weeks at room temperature and then uses the resulting condiment as a base for vinaigrettes, to stir into mayo as a dip for fried or roasted potatoes, or to add to marinades and sauces just as you would use soy sauce or Worcestershire. Granted, this project is a little more advanced that the ones presented above, but it's an ingenious way to turn something you would otherwise throw out into a practical and deeply flavorful ingredient—one that you can use for many weeks to come.

Originally Appeared on Epicurious