Put A Green Onion In Water, And Watch What Happens

Green onions are an incredibly versatile vegetable. Although they're often associated with Chinese, Korean, and other Asian cuisines, sliced green onions also add a nice touch to potato salad and even pizza. While they do have their darker side, having once caused a massive hepatitis outbreak that sickened hundreds and contributed to the closure of the once-popular Mexican restaurant chain Chi-Chi's, green onions remain a popular kitchen staple.

What would you say, though, if we told you you could get a lifetime supply of green onions for free? Or rather, for the cost of just one more bunch? The most amazing thing about green onions (which also go by their superhero alias of Super Scallions) is that they can do this really cool magic trick of regrowing themselves.

Yes, it's true, you can have your green onions and eat them, too. How do you do it? Gardening Know How knows how: Simply snip off the tops of the onions, leaving a couple of inches of the white part above the root. Go ahead and use the trimmed green and white parts for whatever green onion-related cooking you have in mind, then place the remaining trimmed bulbs in a glass, roots down. Fill the glass with water, place it in a sunny spot, and drain/refill the water every couple of days. Within just a few days, you should start to see new growth. Once the green parts reach their original length or thereabouts, you may snip them back to where you started and begin the cycle again, or you could transplant them into a pot if you prefer. For an initial investment of probably under a buck, you can grow and regrow green onions without ever having to buy another bunch.

There you have it — green onions, an enduring symbol of hope and rebirth... or at least an infinitely renewable source of cheap flavor and garnishing.