First, know that it is not juice. It is a salt or brine solution used to preserve foods. Its main ingredients are salt and water. The preserved food, along with the brine, is what is called a pickle.
The most common way of pickling involves cucumbers, in addition to the salt and water. Lactobacillus bacteria ferment the cucumbers and cover their skin. These are the beneficial bacteria, which are often removed during commercial processing, and are replaced with vinegar instead.
After many weeks of curing, the cucumbers then turn to pickles. The pickle juice is what is left behind after the pickles or cucumbers are removed.
Benefits of Pickle Juice:
1. Controls Blood Sugar Levels
A study that was published in the Journal of Diabetes Research have shown the effects of consuming a small serving of vinegar before meal. The vinegar helped in regulating blood sugar levels after the meal in people with type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes is associated with being overweight and obese.
Well-regulated blood sugar levels help to keep you healthy. Many people have type 2 diabetes and do not know it. Unregulated blood sugar can cause serious health problems including heart damage, blindness, and kidney damage.
2. Can Help You Lose Weight
As per a study from Bioscience, Biotechnology, and Biochemistry, consuming vinegar, which is the main ingredient in pickle juice, daily can promote healthy weight loss.
3. Helps You Stay Hydrated
For most people, drinking water for hydration after finishing workout is fine. Water is probably all you need if you are exercising moderately or for an hour or less.
But, it is a different story if you are exercising for longer than an hour at a time, exercising hard, or exercising in hot climates.
Drinking something with potassium and sodium can help you get hydrated faster. Sodium is an electrolyte that you lose when you are sweating. While potassium is another electrolyte lost in sweat.
Pickle juice contains lots of sodium. Also, it has some potassium. After a lengthy exercise session, sipping some pickle juice can help your body to recover its normal electrolyte levels quickly.
Are you watching your sodium intake or on a low-sodium diet? Check with your dietician and doctor about pickle juice before drinking it.
4. Muscle Cramps
A study in 2010 from North Dakota State University reported that muscle cramps could be resolved in 1 minute and a half with 1.5 oz of pickle juice for every 100 pounds of body weight. The researchers could not say for sure why pickle juice contain this effect on cramping, but they hypothesized that it triggered a reflex in the mouth which sent a signal to the nerves.
aLSO, It Is also not clear what component of pickle juice is responsible for this potential benefit. “Some research supports the idea that the vinegar present in pickle juice may help with cramping, rather than its sodium content,” as per Cynthia Sass, RD, Health contributing nutrition editor, “but it has not been well studied.”
5. Good Source of Antioxidants and Vitamins
Pickle juice is a good source of vitamins A and E. Also, It contains a trace amount of antioxidants, that help protect your body and its cells from harmful molecules. While other foods have higher concentrations of antioxidants (pickle juice should not be your go-to source), if you are already drinking the stuff, know that you are getting these benefits, too.
How to Make Pickle Juice:
Ingredients:
1 gallon Cold water
35-40 small pickling cucumbers
4 cloves garlic
4 fresh Dill heads
1 cup raw cider vinegar
2 tablespoons Pickling spices
2/3 cups Kosher salt
Directions:
- Wash the cucumbers first, but do not scrub them.
- Trim the ends of each cucumber, then slice in half lengthwise.
- In a separate glass jar, layer the sliced cucumbers and dill heads and garlic.
- Add the remaining ingredients in a separate bowl until the salt dissolves.
- Pour this brine over the cucumbers. Make sure all are submerged.
- Cover the jar using a cheesecloth.
- Store away from direct sunlight for at least 2-4 days. Also, you can wait until the cucumbers taste like pickles.
- Cap the container using a lid. You can store it in your refrigerator for up to 6 months to 1 year.
Related Articles:
- How Drinking Cucumber Juice Can Lower Blood Pressure
- Study: Unsalted Tomato Juice May Help in Lowering Heart Disease Risk
- How to Make Bitter Gourd Juice for Diabetes
Sources:
Healthline
Health
Womenshealthmag
photo credit: pixabay