7 brilliant things that you can do with pasta water

Some things are just too good to dispose of. And believe it or not, pasta water is one of them. Even though most of us pour it into the sink immediately after cooking, can you secondarily use pasta water in the kitchen, in the home and even in beauty care? and achieve great results.

So the next time you cook noodles, just collect the water in a separate pot, let it cool and place it in a jar in the fridge for short-term (!) Use. And then? We show seven ways to continue to use pasta water sensibly.

1. As a secret ingredient for pesto and pasta sauces

This trick is ideal because you can continue to use the pasta water right after cooking the pasta. Namely, you can add it to the quenching of the sauce ingredients (e.g., onions, bacon, vegetables or tomato paste) in small quantities. Why? Pasta water is rich in starch and salt. While the former acts wonderfully as a binder and gives the sauce a wonderfully creamy consistency, the salt brings a decent spice to the pasta sauce. 3-4 tablespoons of your pasta water are enough.

By the way: if you add a chilli pepper to the water when cooking the pasta, both the pasta and the sauce will become much more aromatic afterwards.

2. For mixing bread and pizza dough

Salt and liquid? Both ingredients are indispensable for a good bread or pizza dough. How good that both are contained in the pasta water. So instead of mixing your dough with plain tap water, use noodle water and save the salt you need to add extra. That's usefully used noodle water!

There are great recipes to bake bread here.

3. Pour to flowers

Only the best for your flowers? Perfect, because pasta water contains plenty of minerals that your plants are guaranteed to enjoy. Make sure that the water is only lukewarm. You do not do them any favor with hot water!

4. For steaming

Not all ingredients are in the water! Many of them get better when steamed gently? and of course you can also use pasta water here. What happens? The foods are hung in on a metal strainer in a pot with boiling noodle water. So they have no direct contact with the water, but still cook nicely. Vegetables preserve their vitamins in this way and stay crisp. Meat and fish, on the other hand, stay nicely juicy. By steaming over pasta water also comes some flavor in the ingredients. There are many recipes for steaming here.

5. For soaking legumes

Beans, peas and lentils are candidates for extensive soaking overnight. This shortens the cooking time and ensures better compatibility. Because while the fruits are in the water, the outer skin becomes softer and indigestible carbohydrates are broken down. For this you can of course use noodle water instead of normal tap water. Just leave it in the liquid overnight. This gives the fruit a pleasant aroma before cooking.

6. For washing pots and pans

It seems absolutely counterproductive at first, just to use the boiling water of the pasta for cleaning pots and pans. But the fact is that the starch contained in the pasta water can also solve stubborn dirt. This is much better than resorting to aggressive chemicals.

7. For your hair and feet

And because there is practically nothing that you can not do with pasta water, can you of course also use it in beauty care? and in the truest sense of the word "from head to toe". For example, some people swear by a foot bath in warm pasta water. The pleasant warmth combined with the minerals contained in the water make for soft, supple feet. After a long day in high heels and Co., the noodle water relieves the pain and swells swollen feet. On the head acts noodle water as a cure pack for strained hair. Advocates recommend that the water be massaged into the hair, leave for ten minutes and then washed out again. Then use the shampoo as usual.