Recycling Pickle Juice

 This is something I have been doing for a couple decades. I was in the Army for 36 years and have worked for the Army another seven years as a civilian. I move around a lot. As I move from place to place I try the local foods and the local commercial brands of all sorts of stuff. 

 I like pickles. I don't care for some flavors, but in general I do like pickles. It always seemed a shame to pour the leftover pickle brine down the drain once the pickles were gone and I always thought that other vegetables, like onions, peppers, and cauliflower would taste good pickled in that flavor brine. So, I started experimenting with reusing the pickle juice.

 It is a simple, basic process. There is usually enough juice left to make a pint of something else and I have a couple pint-size canning jars. I make sure the jar is spotlessly clean and I always wash the one-time use lid and the reusable sealing ring. I run hot water from the tap into the jar to pre-warm the glass. At the same time, I put the pickle juice in a pan and bring it to a boil. The vegetable I am going to use has already been washed and cut to size to fit in the pint jar. Then, I blanch the vegetable in boiling water for three minutes.

 Next, I empty the warm water from the jar, pack it with the vegetable and then pour the boiling pickle juice in to fill the jar up to one quarter inch below the rim. (Note: You must leave an air pocket in the jar to get a vacuum seal.) I wipe off the rim and lay the lid, rubber seal side down, on the jar and then screw the ring on, snug but not tight.

 The filled jar now goes into a pot of boiling water for five minutes then taken out and set on a cooling rack to cool down. As it starts cooling, it forms a vacuum seal and you will hear a loud, sharp "pop", when the canning jar lid gets sucked tight and slightly indents. 

 Let the jar cool to room temperature and set the jar on a shelf in a cool, dark place and leave it be for a month or two. By then, the vegetable will have absorbed the flavors of the pickle juice and you now have a delicious treat. 

 It takes very little work, costs next to nothing if you are using vegetables from your garden, and it provides long-lasting food for the future. I am currently eating pickled green beans ("dilly beans" some folks call them) that I picked from my garden three months ago. I used leftover brine from a gallon jar of German pickles. This is a good way to utilize excess fresh produce. Pickled onions and peppers are great in a salad, on sandwiches, or just eating by themselves. You retain all the nutrition of the vegetable and add the health benefits of vinegar.