Spring Onion is my discovery this growing season. Even though, it’s not at all difficult to buy spring onions in Dutch supermarkets, growing them has some plus points.
I don’t remember how I came up with the idea of planting this common ingredient of Vietnamese cuisine. It seemed like one day I watched a tutorial video on YouTube and BAM.
I followed the guide and put the white stalk with roots into a glass of water. The water needed changing every other day, and that’s what I did. They grew longer root and taller on the top. When Ian saw my glass, he suggested that I should put the spring onions in the soil as it surely would be better for the plant. He was right.
Soon enough, small pots of spring onion dotted around our garden. Instead of buying a bunch every week, I now only get supermarket spring onions if a recipe asks specifically for its white parts. My spring onion might not be as mighty, and in oversize as the one I get from Albert Heijn, the biggest supermarket chain here, but it tastes a lot better being freshly cut from my little balcony garden.
How to grow Spring Onion
You can start from seeds, but I haven’t tried that yet. It’s dead easy to grow spring onion from the stem, though.
Cut off about 8 cm of the white part, with roots, and put a few into a glass jar. Change the water once every two days, and you will soon see new growth. If you don’t have any outdoor space or don’t want to get involved with the messy soil, just keep them in the water and cut off the green parts when they come out.
Alternatively, you can put the stems directly into the soil. There’s no need to use a big pot or space the stems out. I often use a 10-cm container for four stems. They grow perfectly fine. I just cut off the new green now and then and keep each pot going for a few months. They can also take negligence. I don’t have to worry about water them all the time or set up a watering system when I am away for a week or so.
As I said before, it’s rather simple.
Using Spring Onion
We Vietnamese put spring onion into most dishes. Pho has spring onions. Same goes for most noodle soups. Stir fries either start with frying the white part of spring onion or finish with finely-chopped green pieces.
Bonus: Thanks to its strong smell, spring onion plant can be used to scare off some bugs and insects. If you have a few containers, space them out all over your garden.
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