Lemongrass is a great addition to a number of your dishes, and TikToker @andrethefarmer is giving advice on how you can always have it available by growing it yourself.
Growing lemongrass is easy from start to finish — and you can find it at the supermarket.
The scoop
In the supermarket, look for lemongrass that is "that's fairly green and still has the ends," as described in this TikTok.
@andrethefarmer Grow your own lemongrass #lemongrass #fevergrass #growyourownfood #gardeningtips #andrethefarmer #permaculturelife #gardeninghacks #gardentok #gardenersoftiktok #floridagardening ♬ original sound - Andre the farmer
From there, you can cut off the leaves to use for cooking and leave 3 to 4 inches of the bottom to submerge in water that will need to be changed daily. After the lemongrass has been submerged for two to three weeks, you can move it into a soil-filled pot or plant it outdoors.
This TikToker can attest that lemongrass from the grocery store can grow successfully. "All the lemongrass that I have at my house is grown from grocery-store lemongrass," they say.
How it's helping
Growing your own food provides a variety of benefits for you and the environment. It helps you save money on food, gives you easy access to a common ingredient, and also helps to cut down on carbon pollution and pesticide use.
The transporting and packaging of fresh food adds to carbon pollution, according to the United Nations. So growing food in your own backyard will help to cut down on planet-warming pollution.
Big farms also tend to use pesticides on their plants to control weeds and discourage insects, but these pesticides can be harmful to the environment and to humans. Sometimes when pesticides are sprayed, the particles drift to other places that they were not intended — something known as pesticide drift.
The United States Environmental Protection Agency states that pesticide drift can pose health risks to humans and wildlife when it ends up contaminating areas such as bodies of water and nearby schools and playgrounds.
By growing your own food, you decrease the demand for large farms to produce so much, cutting down on the use of pesticides.
What everyone's saying
TikTok viewers expressed their excitement at the new information, with one saying, "Well, now I know where I'm going this weekend."
Others were aware of the hack and were happy to endorse it in the comments. One responds, "[When my sister in law] found out my lemongrass died she grew some from an Asian supermarket! I loved her more since then."
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