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

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

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