9 December 2024

It snowed this week! You know how I feel about food waste. And you may not know that I love pickles (half sours!!! - who's with me?). Are you wondering where I'm heading with this???

I was thrilled to see a video on instagram about the use of pickle brine waste as a melting solution for icy roads. A decade ago, National Geographic was talking about how spent pickle brine could be a safer [for wildlife] and more effective solution (pun intended) for de-icing roads than rock salt or chemical ice melters. New Jersey had been “experimenting” with it (actually, they only tried it because their shipment of road salt got held up at port). Since then, we have heard very little in the field of pavement pickling, although Wisconsin apparently uses cheese brine on their roads.

Why wouldn't we make use of a food waste product in this way? I guess nobody would be making any money from it (I hate to be cynical, so if you have another theory, I'd love to hear it). Pickle brine on our roads is the ultimate use of leftovers. And you need less for it to be as effective as rock salt. The FDA is finally trying to cut the salt in our food supply; why can't we cut the salt on our roads? BTW, over 20 million tons of salt are used on our roadways every year, more than what is found in all our processed foods.

If you have pickle brine in your fridge [and you don't have a stoop to de-ice!], it's great in salad dressing. This Dill Pickle Salad is one of my favorite recipes.  On the topic of condiments, I had some leftover cranberry compote from Thanksgiving, so I blended it with apple cider vinegar to make a delicious dressing for my “leftovers” salad (most of the remaining produce in my fridge, along with some pomegranate seeds and extra taco tofu from Thursday's dinner).

There are loads of solutions out there that reduce our impact on the planet. We just need to try them, share them, advocate for them!  And, oftentimes, the answer is extremely tasty!