If you are like most people, when you prepare your green onions (or scallions & spring onions, whatever you call them) you chop off the root and throw it in the garbage. If you do this, you could be missing out on a second helping of free onions.
Here’s the thing – if you cut the root off a little higher, an inch is ideal (although you could try getting away with less), you can then place these root off-cuts in a jar or bowl of water on the windowsill and within a week or two your onions will have re-grown and they can be used again!
Sure the small downside to this technique is that you have to sacrifice a bit more of the white stem with the root from the first helping, but I think this is more than made up for by the fact you get an almost entirely new onion.
We do this all the time now. We always have a couple of small bowls of green onions at various stages of regrowth on the kitchen windowsill. Once you get in the habit of cutting the roots a little longer and placing them in some water you’ll never look back.
This is a great technique to try if you are trying to make your fresh produce go a little further. It is a no-brainer if you eat a lot of salads!
Apparently this also works with leeks, although I have not tried this yet.
(Photo by: JacindaWalker)
