SO fiddle

Test Fiddle mainly for SO Questions

by Nick Craver

HTML

<link rel="stylesheet" href="http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jqueryui/1.8.4/themes/overcast/jquery-ui.css">
<select>
    <option>Test Original</option>
</select>

JavaScript

$.fn.clearSelect = function () {
    return this.each(function () {
        if (this.tagName == 'SELECT')
            this.options.length = 0;
    });
}

$.fn.addItems = function(data) {
    return this.each(function () {
        var list = this;
        $.each(data, function (index, itemData) {
            var option = new Option(itemData.Text, itemData.Value);

            list.add(option);
        });
    });
}
$(function() {
    $("select").clearSelect().addItems([{ Text: "Test Replacement", Value: "Test" }]);
});