Easily Melt Ice On Your Sidewalks With This Unexpected Kitchen Ingredient

One of the worst ways to be unprepared for winter weather is to forget your salt or ice melt. When you find yourself facing icy sidewalks without any salt, there feels like little you can do. You might look in the kitchen for baking soda, the key to an ice-free driveway. Or there's another option if you find yourself in a little bit of a pickle. Many people have in their kitchen a common snack that can provide unexpected relief — pickles. 

Pickle juice, the briny substance that fills pickle jars, can be a fairly effective tool against icy paths. The high salt content of the juice works to melt ice similarly to commercial ice melt products. Many cities are actually already using brine solutions (salt mixed with water to create a 23% salt concentration) to deice roadways.

Pickle juice, although unusual, can help melt ice when the temperature is as low as negative 6 degrees below zero Fahrenheit. It's recommended to spray pickle juice on sidewalks, porches, and steps prior to icy weather. It can prevent ice from forming and even snow from sticking to surfaces. It might be a good alternative if you don't want to head to the kitchen and grab table salt to easily de-ice your driveway.

Although it has enough salt in it to break down and melt ice, pickle juice is not as strong as pure salt. The result could be an effective ice melt without the damage to your lawn and grass from runoff. Commercial salt products can cause long-term issues in your yard after heavy use, mostly from toxic levels of chloride. Be aware that the salt content present in pickle brine could still have similar negative effects to rock salt with repeated, long-term use. 

But don't get too excited. Using pickle brine exclusively to treat your sidewalks might not be the best course of action. The amount of pickle juice required to melt ice enough in a large area would be a little overwhelming. However, while you should reconsider using coffee grounds as a de-icer, pickle juice will do the job when you have nothing else at hand.

Unfortunately, another major downside of pouring pickle juice outside on your sidewalks is the lingering smell it leaves behind. The heavy vinegar odor will linger wherever you spray or pour it. Plus, pickle juice does not work in extreme negative temperatures (as low as negative 25 degrees Fahrenheit) like some products on the market. If you don't have anything else at home, pickle juice is a good alternative in a pinch. But recognize that there could be other consequences of using any type of brine as a DIY deicer.