7 reasons not to throw out your chickpea juice

You might know it as the stuff you drain off your canned chickpeas, but some of us know it as liquid gold.

Meringues can be considered to have an ethereal quality. Source: China Squirrel

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With the price of groceries somewhere in the stratosphere, it makes sense to use every bit of what you buy. So whether you're soaking fresh chickpeas or using canned, don't throw away the 'juice'.

That liquid is a valuable ingredient known as aquafaba. It makes an outstanding egg white substitute, somehow embodying the same viscous texture and ability to whizz into fluff.

A hot tip: add a small pinch of cream of tartar to aquafaba when you want to whisk it to meringue-style peaks.  It will whip much faster and firmer. Another tip: if you want to use your aquafaba in a sweet recipe, it's best to buy canned unsalted chickpeas, or don't add salt while your dried chickpeas are soaking.

Technically, aquafaba is made after soaking any legume, so go to town with your kidney beans, lentils, cannellini and haricot beans if you must. Personally, we are all about the chickpea juice around here. As these amazing recipes prove - it's really all you need.

Mayo be happy

Aquafaba mayonnaise is set to revolutionise vegan cooking. Source: Getty Images

Vegan mayo is aquafaba's egg-morphing capabilities at their peak. Other vegan mayo attempts just haven't been able to nail the necessary creamy, gloopy consistency, but not this one.

To make aquafaba mayo, in a stick blender combine:

• ½ cup aquafaba
• ½ tsp mustard seeds, ground
• 3 tsp white or apple cider vinegar
• 1-2 tsp maple syrup

Measure out 1½ - 2 cups of sunflower or canola oil (avocado or any other neutral oil also does well).

Slowly add the oil to the blender. The more oil you add the creamier and thicker the mayo will become. Taste to see if you need more vinegar, mustard or maple syrup and then transfer to a sealed jar and store in the fridge.

Whip it good

You will honestly not be able to tell the difference. Source: China Squirrel

Whisk chickpea liquid with sugar for long enough and it turns into an airy meringue. They produce the same almost-crunchy outer with the same sticky insides, only not a stray eggshell to be found.

Hot lava

A treat packed with aquafaba, dark chocolate, banana and hazelnuts is a very good-for-you treat indeed. Source: Tammi Kwok

These molten chocolate lava puddings are as full of goodness as they are full of decadence. You'll never drain a tin of chickpeas down the sink again. (Not that you would ever do that...)

Naan life

Once you discover how easy it is to make your own naan at home, you'll never go back. Source: Murdoch Books / Sasha Gill

A little added bean juice makes for fluffier naan breads. Sasha Gill also shares a fab tip: whenever you open a tin of beans, drain the aquafaba into ice-cube trays and pop them in the freezer.

A big deal

Would you like fries with that? Source: Zacchary Bird

It's hard to believe this whopping burger is 100 per cent vegan, but it is. From the bun to the burger to the aquafaba mayo, a Big Zac is all plants, every which way.

Take stock

Like eating a bowl of life. Source: Andrew Dorn

Many chickpea dishes benefit from adding aquafaba and this is one of them. Cook your chickpeas, reserve a litre of the braising juice and use it like a stock later in the dish.

Fatteh boom

Have plenty of bread on hand to scoop up giant mounds of this delicious breakfast dish. Source: Racha Abou Alchamat

We'll finish with a traditional Syrian dish that combines chickpeas, pita bread, tangy tahini yoghurt sauce and toasted nuts. This time the aquafaba is used as a dressing... is there no end to this marvel's versatility?