Last year I would often pick up my share towards the end of distribution and would see bags and bags of leftover celery. The poor celery was so often passed on by members who just didn’t know what to do with it. I would always take my share of it only to have it sit in my crisper uneaten. Big beautiful green and purple heads with more flavor than I ever tasted before, being accustomed to the watery white crunch of the grocery store kind.
We got this season’s first heads of celery a couple weeks ago. So in anticipation of the abundance we saw of this vegetable last year I thought I’d gather some ideas and recipes for us.
Celery belongs to the Umbelliferae family whose other members include carrots, fennel, parsley and dill. It’s a great source of vitamin C and contains an active compound called pthalides, which can help lower cholesterol. And it’s true that celery has negative calories!
When grown conventionally, celery is in the top ten list of vegetables on which pesticide residues have been most frequently found; yet another reason to celebrate our organic and biodynamic CSA!
Storage:
Celery is often refrigerated in plastic bag in crisper, but many swear by tinfoil wrapping for this veggie, saying it lasts much much longer.
Wilted ribs can be crisped by placing them in ice water for several minutes.Use the leaves as soon as possible as they do not keep as well as the stalks
101 Ways To Enjoy Celery
- Ants on a Log: celery spread with peanutbutter and topped with raisins
- spread with cream cheese
- stuffed with an anchovy
- try out a celery soup recipe: classic, curried, curried with miso and shitake
- diced into tuna (or salmon) salad
- use the leaves in place of parsley
- Bloody Mary’s
- in fact, use it as a stirrer for any drink! (except an egg cream)
- add to a stir fry
- dipped into hummus
- dipped into ranch dip
- an excuse to indulge in lobster or shrimp salad (chop up a few stalks, mix it with the shellfish meat, mayo, salt & papper, eat in a hot dog bun)
- chopped into chicken salad
- cut the stalks into handy sizes, store in a baggie, use in place of nicotine gum
- use the leaves in home fried potatoes
- chop it and mix with diced radish, onion, dill, and mayo. Serve with some tasty Whitefish Salad from Russ & Daughters
- chop the base off and grow it as a house plant
- use diced stalks to add crunch to homemade salsa (or to brighten store bought)
- Make a celery, apple, pecan salad. Eat it with blue cheese dressing.
- make the classic mirepoix by using it with carrots and onions as the base of soups, sauces, stews, and stocks
- celery pilaf
- if all else fails, chop the stalks up, bag and freeze them for later use in cooked recipes (not for later raw eating as freezing will affect the texture)
