Buying Scallions Is A Thing Of The Past Thanks To This Hack

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Remember when we divulged the bouquet hack to keep herbs fresh? Using the same principle — immersing the stems in water — you can unlock a near-infinite regrowing hack for your scallions and green onions. (Remember that the only difference between scallions and green onions is age and size.) You know how, sometimes, you buy scallions for a recipe and end up not using all of them, so they wilt and go bad in the fridge? Then, a few weeks later, you need scallions again and repeat the process? Break that cycle by growing your own green onions on your windowsill. Don't worry if you normally kill all your garden plants, because this process is basically foolproof.

All you need are the white ends of cut green onions, which are leftover after you use them. Make sure that the bulb at the very end of the plant is intact. Simply put approximately an inch of water in a cup, and put your ends root-down in the water, then stick them on a sunny windowsill. Replace the water every couple of days. That's it. You will have full-sized scallions again in about 10 days, give or take, at which point you can harvest the green parts and put the roots back in water to grow again. If you take proper care of your little immortal scallion situation, there should, theoretically, be no reason that you ever have to run to the store for last-minute green onions ever again!

Some home cooks have discovered that, after a time, their scallion roots do better when planted in soil. After three to five regrowing cycles, the roots will get slimy. You can peel off the sheath without hurting the scallion, but burying those roots in some high-quality potting soil is barely more effort and may, over time, produce heartier, sharper-tasting green onions. Anecdotal reports suggest that you can regrow the scallions in water about three times before planting them for the best results. Remember that changing the water out consistently is important to the health of your plants. When the roots get too long and stringy, you can safely trim them down to about one inch long. 

Warning: this hack may prove too successful if you don't use green onions/scallions that often in your cooking. You can't really store whole scallions in the freezer without losing texture and taste if you plan on subbing them for fresh ones, but if you are incorporating cut ones into a recipe (as opposed to a garnish), certain freezing methods may work out. You can also dehydrate scallions in your oven at a low temperature and mix them into soups or broths. Our guess is that you will become obsessed with having fresh green onions on demand when you successfully regrow them, however, and will find a ton of new uses for them in your cooking that keep your plants — whether in water or soil — nice and busy!