Your mates on Instagram may have been showing off their sourdough and banana bread creations, but with shelves stripped of flour lately, you may have begun to see shoots of shallots take over as the next big isolation trend.
An affordable fridge staple ready to elevate just about any savoury dish with a sprinkled garnish, spring onions are also super easy to grow at home, and even indoors without planting.
David Chang, Momofuku founder and host of Netflix’s Ugly Delicious, is growing shallots at home inside the bottom of a plastic water bottle. He may not have been the first to do so, as outlined in his caption, but he’s certainly influenced fellow isolators to grow their own, too. The chef’s post has over 2,500 comments.
Here, we’re going to tell you how you too can take part and grow your own shallots at home.
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What are shallots?
Shallots, also known as spring onions in some supermarkets (and depending on where you live, scallions), are part of the allium family, with other members being onions, leeks and garlic.
With a mild onion-y flavour that sweetens when cooked, shallots grow easily and quickly in just about any home garden in cool climates from seeds. But if you already have a bunch in your fridge right now, you can easily keep them growing with just a few pieces of general household equipment.
How to grow shallots at home
Growing shallots indoors is easy. To get started, you’ll need to reserve the last 10cm of your bunch, which is easy because you’d usually chop and discard that part anyway.
Next, stand your roots upright inside a container, like a glass or a jar, and fill the glass with water to around 5cm high. Leave your jar in a sunny position, like a windowsill, and watch as your babies grow before your eyes. You can see growth in as little as three days — just be sure to refill the water level as it depletes or turns brown.
When you want to garnish your meals with shallots, you can trim your stems and then let them keep growing indefinitely. Free shallots for life!