Brine (food)

Brine is a mixture of water and salt used to preserve or season vegetables, fruit, fish and meat in a process known as brining (a variant of pickling). In this case the clear brine may be flavored with spices, caramel, vinegar, etc.

In Russian cuisine the leftover brine (culinary brine is called rassol (рассол) in Russian) has a number of culinary uses, especially for cooking traditional soups, such as shchi, rassolnik, and solyanka. Rassol, especially cucumber rassol, or sauerkraut rassol, is also a favorite traditional remedy against morning hangover.

Brine is also commonly used to age brined cheeses, such as halloumi and feta, see also "cheese brining".