pickling Re Using Pickle juice ?

Gargoyle91

Gargoyle91

I go through a ton of pickles and garlic stuffed olives always end up tossing the juice , Is there any reason to not re use the juice to pickle more Veggies .

Like sliced cucumbers with garlic and a few habs or any other veggies ?

The only down side I see is the commercial brine will have some preservatives in it , I can;t think of a reason to not do it other then I stick my fingers in the jar to grab a pickle :)
 
I usually buy good pickles and add peppers to them instead of buying spicy pickles. This lets me choose a good brand like Bubbies and spice them up, and you also get to eat the peppers. You can even add dried peppers and they'll plump up! I usually don't keep the liquid too long, I just start over.
 
I always use my leftover brine to soak chicken wings(sometimes any cut of chicken.) overnight & then throw them on the Weber grill indirect. I find that veggies don't pickle well unless the brine is hot when the veggies go in.
 
Not to get too scientific here, cuz I'm absolutely NOT a scientist....
I'm wondering about the salinity of a used brine. I'm assuming a significant amount of the sodium penetrates the vegetable/cucumbers and is no longer in the leftover brine. I wouldn't trust that to be usable for another batch of pickled something. But then again, the vinegar is the major preservative of a pickled item.

Using for something like chicken as Toddz~ suggests is a good quick way to repurpose. Then throw it away.

BTW- Toddz~ veggies can be Cold Packed with a cooked and cooled brine, but they have to stay refrigerated. VS- using a heated brine that can be processed to be shelf stable. Using the leftover brine for chicken is great. Isn't there some chicken chain that uses pickle juice in their batter or something? I dunno, I was probably watching the Food Network after a couple re-wines. 🤷
SL
 
salsalady said:
But then again, the vinegar is the major preservative of a pickled item.
Click to expand...
I buy fermented pickles like Bubbies there is no vinegar. The liquid will still pickle a pepper in the fridge.
 
salsalady said:
I'm wondering about the salinity of a used brine. I'm assuming a significant amount of the sodium penetrates the vegetable/cucumbers and is no longer in the leftover brine.
Click to expand...
Since osmosis is at play, there is equilibrium. In other words, salt moves into the cucumber until it is equal with the brine since it moves toward the area with lesser salt. Once equal, it would stop, and reverse if the brine became less salty. But yeah you are still removing salt with each pickle. The brine could potentially be used once more but not too many times after. Throw some pods in there! Done!
 
I know the brand Bubbies, buy the kraut, but never looked at the pickles.

Equilibrium is the thing I was aluding to but did not articulate.
 
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