Not trying to judge, just trying to understand where we are in the spectrum of human behavior - when you eat a jar of pickles or olives or whatever, what do you do with the brine? Do you dump it, use it for something else, or drink it?
I know someone who saves it to drink it later. He is my husband. Honestly, even after 20 years together, I didn't realize this about him. I thought the stockpile in the door was just a collection of forgotten empty jars, and I've been dumping them as such.
Which is it:
- I'm a terrible wasteful sinner?
- He's a freak?
- Neither/Both, there's a special middle ground?
No judgement or emotional attachment here, he can have an entire shelf of the fridge for brine jars, idgaf. It just never occurred to me to that I should consider stockpiling brine.
Are you stockpiling brine? What do you do with it? "I'll drink some with breakfast tomorrow," is a perfectly acceptable answer. Just curious if yours is different.
Lots you can do with some brine in cooking...super secret weapon in lots of sauces and soups and similar things. I wouldn't dump a whole jar of it in but a splash of brine could add much needed salt and acid to pretty much anything.
I don't use it for this because I don't make enough stuff that would benefit from it to but that's certainly something I could see using it for.
To DRINK it though? Doesn't sound good for you but I guess a little as a treat now and again sounds like am exciting palate hit so why not
One good use of leftover brine is this:
Submerge thinly sliced red onion into leftover brine and keep it in the fridge. After a couple of days you have a delicious, super-easy addition which is perfect for Mexican food and which goes really well in salads and as a side for lots of other dishes.