10 Foods that Easily Regrow in Water

Yes that’s right. You can use bits of veggies you’d normally throw away to grow new ones at home with nothing more than a dash of the old H-two-Ohh.

There are SO many great reasons to give it a go!

1. It’s free – you only need to use scraps of food you’ve already bought
2. It’s easy – this is a great (and super low maintenance) way to grow veggies
3. It makes a great science project for young kids (or big kids 😉 )
4. It’s so nice to see something growing and changing, especially when we’re not able to get out much!
5. It’s also great for your health and the environment.

Here’s what you need to know:

• That great thing is, you don’t need much water at all to do this. Just 1/2 an inch or enough to cover the roots is perfect.
• Check on them every 2-3 days to make sure there’s still enough water. There should also be nothing else in the water other than whatever you’re trying to sprout. So any rogue, soggy leaves can be taken out at this point!
• The best shape and size of container depends on what you’re growing. If it’s cabbage, lettuce or celery, use a shallow dish. For leeks or green onion, a tall thin container will work better.
• You can use the same dish to sprout multiples of the same plant. Just make sure the dish isn’t over crowded.

Here’s the list:

BOK CHOI

Chop off the base of the stalk and put it in a small bowl of water. You’ll start to see new growth from the centre in a day or two, with significant growth in under a week.

CELERY

Cut off the bottom 2 inches of stalk and place in a small bowl of water. New growth will start from the centre in 3 or 4 day. It can take a while for a full stalk of celery to grow, but the smaller growth in the middle is great for flavouring recipes.

FENNEL

Cut off the bottom inch of the base, making sure that the roots remain intact. Place in a small bowl of water.

GARLIC CHIVES

My Garlic chives

Garlic chives grow from a clove of garlic and can be added to dishes in the place of green onion chives (like potato salad). Place a garlic clove in a small cup and add a little water to the bottom. Be careful not to submerge the whole clove. You’ll start to see roots and shoots in a few days.

NOTE: Be sure to peel the garlic cloves. The ones I peeled grew MUCH faster than the ones I didn’t.

GREEN ONION

You’ll want the white part of the onion, with any roots that are still attached. Place in a glass with some water, and you’ll have your own green onion growing in no time!

CABBAGE

Cut off the root end and place it in a shallow bowl of water. It will start to regrow from the middle. Make sure that you harvest when it’s still small if you want the best flavour from your cabbage.

CARROT GREENS

Unfortunately, you can’t regrow an actual carrot this way. But you can regrow the green tops of the carrot. They’re great to add to salads. Just pop the cut off end in a shallow dish of water.

LEEKS

You’ll need the bottom 2 or 3 inches of the leek stalk. Place it in a cup of water and you can grow you own leeks in no time.

My baby gem lettuce

LEMONGRASS

2 or 3 inches at the end of lemongrass can be put into a tall container with half an inch of water. New shoots will soon start t appear from the centre.

LETTUCE

Place the bottom of a small head of lettuce in a small bowl of water. You should start to see some new growth from the centre in only a few days and a full head of lettuce in a couple weeks!

I’d love to know if you’ve tried any of these and what success you’ve had.

Let me know in the comments…