Get Your Scallion Fix – Economically
Onions. Garlic. RED LIGHTS! High FODMAP foods! Do. Not. Eat! Sigh. Not great words to hear and certainly throw most of us for a loop when we first dive into the low FODMAP diet and learn that onions and garlic are high in fructans and a huge trigger for many of us with IBS.
The idea of cooking and eating without onion and garlic to flavor our food is daunting. Luckily scallion greens are Green Light vegetables.
Substitutions Rule
Hopefully by now you know that you can make or use Garlic-Infused Oil and that goes a long way to addressing this issue. But what about onions? Well, we’ve got Onion-Infused Oil, too, but one of my favorite ways to infuse onion flavor into my low FODMAP food is to use scallion greens where onions were initially called for.
If your recipe calls for ½ cup (72 g) chopped onions, try ½ cup (32) chopped scallion greens!
Back to the Market
The problem was that I found myself back at the supermarket several days a week just to stock up on scallions, which was inconvenient and expensive and then, after using the Green Light Monash approved scallion greens I was throwing away the white parts and bulbs! I tried to keep up with it and get them to neighbors so as not to make waste, but that wasn’t always possible.
I hated spending so much money and creating garbage.
And Then, Brilliance Struck
OK, maybe I am patting myself on the back a bit too much, but I have to tell you that this felt ground-breaking to me. Robin was sprouting a potato for future planting at The Farm. I was on my way to the market to buy scallions for the Test Kitchen – yet again – and I spied the potato on the windowsill as I was running out the door.
What if, I thought, I just stuck the scallion bulbs in water? Could I re-grow the much needed scallion greens?
As you can see from the images, the answer is a resounding YES!
Why Didn’t Anyone Tell Me?
I called my BF Mary, who is a gardener extraordinaire, and asked her if she had known this was possible and why she never told me. “Dédé, yes, I knew this,” she said. “It’s just that your needs for scallion greens were not the norm.”
Well, okay, she gets a pass! And now we all know!
So, go to the supermarket or farmer’s market and pick up a nice fresh bunch of scallions. Use the greens as needed, then place the bulbs in a glass with clean, cool water and place in a sunny spot. I use the windowsill over the Test Kitchen sink.
Change the water everyday and you have instantly become an indoor micro-farmer. Snip greens off as needed. I have kept the same bunch going for more than month. Enjoy!
Hi there, thank you so much for your articles! I have a question though; can you clarify which part of the scallions you can eat on Low FODMAP? In your article about LEEK you used a really great picture to visualize. Is it possible to add a similar one to this article too?
Again, appreciate all your help on this matter!
Hi Joseph, we will get a scallion article upon soon! I approach them very similarly to leeks. You want to use the green parts only. Typically, when my knife or fingers go down the scallion green it gets to a part where it feels thicker and sturdier and meatier. I stop just short of that part. So, you can use visuals, looking fore the “green”, but you can also use your sense of touch. In my mind, this is where the meatier part of the scallion begins, and I leave it out of my low FODMAP cooking. That part can still look green, so this is a conservative approach.
What a great idea! How long does it take to “re-grow” a usable crop of scallion greens
Mark, I have a veritable forest growing on the Test Kitchen windowsill. It’s actually very cool looking as well as handy.
The only drawback is that my kitchen smells like onions!
Well, I suppose if we can’t eat them at least we can smell them LOL! In all seriousness, I hope this tip has helped you navigate the diet.
How wonderful to know. Going to give it a try and hopefully have fresh scallion greens whenever I need – and not toss the unused dead ones I do.
Thanks a “bunch”
I have even pressed the bulbs with roots into soil to re-grow. That’s what I did for “outside” this summer, while the glass approach was happening inside:)
OMG, why did I not think of this?! Back in the day when I used to eat onions I even used to do this with the spring onion. I’m so out of practice I’d forgotten you could do this 😛
Thank you!!
LOL glad we could help!!! My windowsill is always full