When the Bread and Butter Pickles are gone, save that juice with all the good spices in it. When you have leftover vegetables from supper, put them in the pickle juice and keep them refrigerated. The cold "pickled" vegetables will be good in a green salad.

You can also peel hard boiled eggs, let them cool, and put them in the pickle juice. These are also good when chopped up in a salad. The eggs will last for several weeks in the juice.

Love the idea about the eggs! I've recycled my pickle juice before with fresh cukes but not other veggies and I never thought about the eggs. Thanks for passing that along

Does that sort of 'pickle' the veggies, or just add some taste and help preserve the veggies?

I always mark the date on the jar and allow it to set in the refrigerator at least a month before diving in. I use masking tape because it comes off very easy but won't slide off when the jar and tape get moist in the refrigerator. That way, I can use the jar again and again, just marking it with a different date as needed. Write with a Sharpie so it won't smear when the ink gets wet.

This is great. I always suspected it was a wasteful idea to just throw pickle juice down the drain, and now I feel validated. Such great info for everyone!

What veggies work best this way?

I do like the eggs idea too.

I've got a jar of okra in the fridge right now that I pickled this way. Try things like yellow squash, zucchini, baby carrots or carrot slices. I've got some pickled garlic in the fridge, too, that I canned last summer. Bet mushrooms would be good, too. Green beans, jalapenos, . . .

I always slice the bigger cukes and okra (and now all the other stuff Phyllis has got me thinking about ). The larger the veggie, the longer it'll take for the pickling juices to do their thing.

My brother has some strange daughters. They pour their pickle juice into popsicle molds and make pickle popsicles! Yucky!!

How interesting - a salty popsicle. lol

HA! I don't have any near-empty pickle jars, but i do have a fresh cucumber i would like to try preserving. I just posted a wanted item on my local craigslist about pickle juice. We will see what i get.

It seems to do both. When adding leftover veggies, make sure you drain them well so as not to dilute the pickle juice. As for the boiled eggs, it makes them last so much longer. I have kept eggs in pickle juice for up to 3 months and they still taste good when chopped up and added to salads. They get quite firm, but taste good.

Any vegetable, fresh or cooked, I think would be ok to add to the pickle juice. I prefer the juice of the bread and butter pickles because the flavor of the spices is so wonderful. I eat B&B pickles just as a snack quite often, so I always have enough pickle juice to have something pickled in the fridge.

How awesome. I will have to document this once I get some pickle juice. We will see what my craigslist ad turns up.

Thanks for the suggestion - i'd love if you had more!

I have never tried fruits in the pickle juice and would hesitate to do so. Also, I would not try meats.

The pickle juice might make a really good meat marinade for, say, a roast, steaks, chicken before barbecuing or roasting, but, I have not tried that.

I love B&B pickles, too. Canning a big batch was my first major culinary adventure. I was in 7th grade. Spent the night with my friend, Connie, whose dad (Pete) was the principal at school and Saturday-night-dominos buddy with my parents. He was an avid gardener, too.

One morning he woke me up before the sun came up. Just me, not Connie. Told me to meet him in the kitchen as soon as I could get dressed, that we're going to make pickles today. Huh? Did I hear that right? Am I dreaming? And why didn't Connie have to get up so early, too? Pickles??

I heard it right and had no idea what he was talking about but I just didn't have the gumption to say no or argue with the school principal (even though school was out for the summer) or such a close friend of my parents, not to mention the father of my best friend. He had me cornered.

He'd grown a huge crop of cucumbers and had onions galore. We sliced and soaked and canned and sweated for hours and hours that day. I'll never forget it. Those were the best pickles I've ever had in my life and I've loved B&B pickles ever since. Never even heard of them till that day.

I got very interested in learning more about canning when I was in culinary school and I've wanted since then to start a pickling company - Pete's Pickles - in his honor. I think he got the cooking bug started in me.

If you like spicy stuff, substitute fresh jalapeno slices for the cucumbers in a B&B recipe to make B&B jalapenos. They're awesome!!

Ooooh! I love the idea of using pickle juice for meat marinades. I've got to try that one really soon. Thanks, Phyllis!

I have six medium to large white onions. I doubt i will eat them before they go bad. I don't eat onions and neither does DH.

Can i chuck them in pickle juice to preserve for later use? Or do i just let them sit out? I don't know how long onions stay good.

Pickle 'em. If you've got room to store them till the holidays, they'll go great on a buffet menu and they'll be awesome in sandwiches. Or serve them at football tailgate parties in the meantime.

Thanks, Sandy. Do i cut them up or toss them in whole?

I'd slice them into pretty rings or quarter them the long way and keep the chunks together in wedges (does that make sense?) so I can retrieve a wedge at a time. Long strips wouldn't be bad, either. I don't think you can go wrong here.

Excellent! I will do just that and document it. thank you!

Now waiting for the emails to roll in telling me i can have free pickle juice.

maybe I should ask some restaurants?

My experience in restaurants leads me to not be excited about the idea of asking there. They're probably very busy and working in limited space with a limited number of people. When the orders come flying in, tempers flare and the going can get pretty tough. Hot under the collar reaches a whole new reality. More likely to toss things in haste as they empty a jar rather than save it, especially if they don't know you. However . . . if you have a friend who works in the kitchen, s/he might be able to collect some pickle juice for you. Look for those friends in delis and other food establishments that serve lots of sandwiches.

It's really cheap and easy to make pickle juice, though. The biggest expense is vinegar. It's a lot cheaper than the gasoline you'll use to collect ready-made pickle juices from random locations.

Some recipes call for pickling salts but I always use kosher salt, for everything. It isn't expensive since a little goes a very long way.

An added bonus? As your pickled foods ripen, so will your juice, making it even better for the second batch of pickled whatevers.

Google some pickle recipes and see what looks interesting to you. I like epicurious.com because it's the internet home of magazines like Gourmet and Bon Apettit. Except for the recipe submitted by readers, they've all been tested in professional kitchens and they usually don't fail. I like reading the reader comments, too, to see what home cooks think of the recipes and how they altered them.

That's okay - I would rather get pickle juice for free. I can walk to everything in town, so no gas will be used. I can't buy food until i have foodstamps.

But using vinegar is good advice in any case, for people that have some extra around!

I think i will wait until someone from craigslist tells me i can have their jars.

I just posted a photo of the beginning of my new potato mound - i just made this right now, in between postings!
potato mound from tires

If you get donations of pickle juice, it might be a good idea to empty the juice into a clean bowl and cover it, chill it. Then thoroughly wash out the jar with hot soapy water, rinse very well and place jar and lid in a pan of water to gently boil for five minutes -- just to make sure there is no bacteria from other people handling the jar.

Great idea, Phyllis, thank you.

I may as well call some local cafes anyway, just to see what people say. It's all about the research!

Ohhh-Myyy-Gosh!

In early August I put some boiled eggs (peeled) in my bread and butter pickle juice. I just took out one of the eggs, chopped it up, added a little pepper and mayo and ate it on crackers.

It was soooo good!

What a fantastic idea. Now i am wondering what else one can add to such juices.

I wonder about cabbage or cauliflower? I have a head of each that will go bad if I can't find a way to preserve them.

I think cauliflower would be ok. Just make sure it is well cleaned, has not little black spots on it and it is in small pieces.

Cabbage would probably alright, too. I would rinse it well and slice it thinly.

I think I will try cabbage and cauliflower, too. I am collecting quite a lot of pickle juice. I buy a new jar of B&B pickles every month. They are so good on sandwiches, especially bologna.

Love that update on the pickled eggs, Phyllis. You're making me hungry.

Jilly, I think cabbage would work perfectly. After all, sauerkraut is pickled cabbage. And I've had cauliflower in little expensive jars of mixed veggies that are pickled and delicious!

I'll be setting up my new kitchen after the first of the month and I can hardly wait. I'd better put pickles on my shopping list.

Great, Sandy! I will try the cabbage tonite - if i can get this old pickle jar open! I'll just cut them fine and stuff them in.

How is your new home coming along?

New home is coming along just fine. My sister has a big house built into the side of a hill that overlooks a lake - one of the prettiest spots in Texas. Underneath the house, nestled into the hill, are storage rooms and a bath house. We're converting that area into living quarters for me. I'll be moving into that space after the first of the month.

In the meantime, I'm still 'camping out' in her living space. It's about 70 miles from my last house but I have no ties to that house, other than I'm hoping my lost cat will show up there someday real soon! If she does, she'll be in good hands until I can retrieve her and take her to her new house on the lake.

I'll have a temporary office set up by the end of the day and be back to work - and writing for BellaOnline - in a day or two. So nice to be seeing an end to this wild episode in life!!

I have now gotten four containers of pickle juice and am having fun slicing my produce into it. I also am adding peppercorns from my neighbor's tree, bell peppers, and fresh garlic.

This is so fun. I am thinking about pickling plums to make omeboshi.

This is so fun. And it is with things that would otherwise be tossed!

Sandy - I love the idea that you will finally be set and comfy in a home with room all for you. Being on a lake sounds so appealing. How is your new office?

I also really hope you find your cat. hang in there. I've had dogs come back after being gone for a month.

I did manage to get some pickle juice after a lot of begging people to save me some. lol. I now have an array of veggies set aside and floating in the juice in bottles. I am a little afraid to eat them though - I have no confidence in myself yet to preserve food for eating by any prep means save dehydration.

But the bottles are here and there is pickled produce in them!

Phyllis.......I do love Bread & Butter pickles, and I will have to try the hard boiled eggs in the leftover juice. What a great idea!

Has anyone tried using dill pickle juice for anything besides cucumbers? Probably some hard boiled eggs would be good in this dill juice too. But what about veggies?

If it is refrigerated they should be ok, Jilly. I would like to try broccoli and cauliflower. I do just prefer the eggs, though.

Cassie, I have not tried any vegetables yet. I do know the dill juice works quite well also with the eggs.

I have not had it in the fridge, just my cool storage on my porch. Hmmm.

If they are really cold, it might be ok. Just please be cautious. If the juice looks cloudy or has stringy looking bubbles in it, I would throw it all out, jar and all. We can never be too careful about bacterias.

I buy Pilaros Kalamata olives at Costco. The brine in the jar is a tasty salad dressing. Also, mixed with olive oil and Good Season's spices, it makes a dandy marinade for a low-carb veggie salad.

Phyllis, I will check on that this weekend and report what i find. Thanks!

OKay, looking at the bottom of the jars there is whitish stuff at the bottom. But i don't know if that is normal. There are no floaties up higher or near the top.

If it were me I would dispose of the contents, Jilly. There should be nothing white in pickle juice. It sounds like a mold of some kind is growing in the jars, maybe because they were not cold enough. With the vinegar in the juice you should not be getting that kind of thing going on for quite some time if the jars are refrigerated. Better to be safe than to get sick.

I bet if i open one of them it will make a whoosh sound. And maybe smell. Although the jar lids are not bulging.

Unless you really need the jars for something else, in which case I would wash them in bleach water, rinse them well, and maybe even boil them afterwards.........well, just ditch the whole thing, jar and all if you can.

I agree. Some molds are beneficial and some are extremely toxic; it's best not to take a chance.

I am just leaving the jars alone right now under the porch. I will update if (i mean when) i ever deal with them.

I really need a real sized fridge if i want to re-use pickle juice in stuff. I don't see that happening - I like my little dorm-sixed fridge.

Now a chest freezer might be cool. Used from craigslist of course.

Aha. I now have an empty jar of pickle juice (parents used it up while here). What shall i put in it? I need to re-read this thread for ideas.

The produce i have kicking around is lettuce, spinach, tomatoes, potatoes, onions, garlic, fennel, some herbs, grape leaves and bananas.

I could go buy something more usable with the food stamps - like cuckes, also. Maybe do cukes and garlic and onions with some of my herbs? I have fennel, margoram, basil, chives, garlic chives and lemon thyme, along with a few wild greens and foraged peppercorns.

Any of the cooks here have a plan for me? I am not a cook, for those of you just joining us.

How about eggs? Pickled eggs are nice.

Right, eggs. I know people do that. I would not eat pickled eggs, but i am fussy about squishy foods.

I love pickled jalapeno juice. It flavors sandwiches and sides nicely.