Celery
Posted by terrepruitt on May 14, 2011
After my Los Gatos Nia Class yesterday I went to the store. I wanted to get some food to take to the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life today. I grabbed a bunch of celery for a snack. I think people like celery. I don’t. But I didn’t realize how much I didn’t like it until I started cutting it and washing it. I do not like celery. As I was dealing with it I kept thinking, “What a useless vegetable.” Well, I don’t really think that is true. I mean it has to be good for something besides as a filler in casseroles, salads, and soups. So . . . . to the cloud. Ok not really because I don’t even know what that is, but I definitely decided to look it up. Since I am going to be gone all day today at the walk, I thought I would jot down my celery education as my Saturday blog post. Yay!
As I think back on so many things (soups, salads, and casseroles) that I didn’t like as a child I realize it is because they had celery in them. I realize when I cook these things myself, I love them because I don’t put celery in them. But, as I truly believed, celery is not useless. The stalk, root, leaves, and seeds can all be used.
Celery (the stalk) is a great source of vitamin K and vitamin C. A cup can provide you with 2.04 grams fiber. Do people normally eat a cup of celery when they eat celery?
Celery contains nutrients that have been linked with lowering blood pressure, reducing high cholesterol, and helpful in preventing cancer. The phthalides are the compounds that help with lowering blood pressure. The vitamin C helps with the immune system. I’ve posted before about how chronic inflammation is associated with many diseases, vitamin C help reduce inflammation by helping contain free radicals, so does the coumarins also found in celery.
According to Wiki celery is like peanuts in that people who are allergic to it can have a very bad reaction as people with peanuts do. As with peanuts people who are allergic to celery can get a reaction from something that has been used to process it. Stalks, seeds, and roots all have varying degrees of potency.
As I was cutting the celery, just the smell was bothering me. And it is like an onion, not as strong, but once it gets your hands you can’t wash it off. I probably washed my hands at least 10 times in the course of my preparation of snacks for the walk and it never came off. As I was cutting it I kept thinking, “Peppery.” Not sure why. Since I was getting so disgusted while dealing with it, I thought, “Is it REALLY that bad?” So I cut a small piece off to taste it. I put it in my mouth and bit down. Yup, it IS that bad. I spit it out. I just do not like celery.
I did have celery soup a couple of times and I did like that so I don’t know what that means. Except that I WILL be trying my hand at making the soup but I will not be adding celery to anything I make. Any fans out there? Do you eat it raw? Do you disguise the taste by filling it with cream cheese? Or peanut butter? Do you cook with it?
Thanks, as always, for letting me share. And thanks, in advance, for sharing back. 🙂
Terre Pruitt's Blog 
niachick said
OMG!! I LOVE LOVE LOVE celery. I put it in my tuna salad, in my green salad, I put almond butter on it. I love the crunchiness, the juiciness of it.
I’m so sorry that you don’t like it, but I’m sure there are alot of folks who might not like celery…but NOT me!!! I love it!!!
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terrepruitt said
I love that you love it and you like it in so many things and so many different ways. That is what makes a great food! 🙂
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Becky said
I never knew you could be allergic to celery — can you be allergic to peas? If so I totally wasted time as a child hiding them when I could have claimed a scratchy throat! 😉
Celery is actually something I don’t really like alone but I cook with it ALL the time.
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terrepruitt said
I don’t think I ever thought about being allergic to celery. But I know I never thought that it could be as bad as a peanut allergy.
You are funny. I am sure you can be allergic to peas, why not?
You cook with celery all the time? Put it in salads, casseroles, meatloaf?
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Marianne said
I’m not a huge fan of celery. I certainly don’t have as strong a negative reaction as you, but it just seems sort of bland and there for the sake of having something there. I did love the old ants-on-a-log snacks when I was a kid, though.
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terrepruitt said
Icky. I just don’t like it. Icky. I think it is bland, but it does have a flavor I don’t like. I use bell pepper in place of celery. A lot of people don’t like bell peppers.
I have never had ants-on-a-log because when I was young I didn’t like cream cheese. I don’t like celery and I am not a fan of rasins. And now that I like cream cheese, I don’t think I could eat a celery tube FULL of it. That’s what I know ants-on-a-log to be. Is that what your ants-on-a-log is? Celery filled cream cheese with rasins (ants) on it?
Thanks for commenting.
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John Pruitt said
The reason you don’t like celery is because you are preparing it wrong. Where is the Cheese Whiz?
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terrepruitt said
That MUST be it!
(Dooooooode!)
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John Pruitt said
I know it’s not really cheese, but you know that when people see celery that is exactly what they are looking for next. Don’t get all healthy moral now 😉 Gimme the wiz!
really though. Spray cheese. Probably this planets high and low water marks on the evolutionary scale. Yes we can make something that kinda looks like cheese and then put it in a can, but honestly, should we have? This is far more ethically questionable to me than stem cell research.
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terrepruitt said
Even if I had a ten foot pole.
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Elaine said
I too dislike raw celery. I don’t find it offensive, just very very blah and not worth a lot of consideration. However, I LOVE celery soup – the version that I make is creamless and pureed so its very smooth. Given my general celery apathy, I was really surprised to find that I love soup made from it – I tried it because my CSA gave me, once upon a time, a celery behemoth and I had to find something to do with it. The recipe’s yours if you want it (I know you have the immersion blender handy).
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terrepruitt said
Yeah, I don’t like celery, but I do remember eating and loving celery soup.
Of course, I would like the recipe. 🙂
Thanks for dropping by!
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Elaine said
I just want to add, for no reason at all, that every time I smell engine coolant I think it smells like hot celery.
Here’s my rough recipe along with my substitution notes. You can opt in or out of the chicken, use good quality vegetable stock instead of chicken if you prefer, add ponies or rainbows if you like – it’s soup, do whatever you want!
1 bunch celery, chopped into 1-2 inch pieces
1 onion (i used a leek)
1 potato or apple (i used a parsnip)
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp thyme
pepper to taste
3-4 cups chicken stock (i used one of the square aseptic containers)
1 lb boneless skinless chicken, optional (i used thighs)
saute the celery, onion and random white thing with the spices in some olive oil about
5-7 minutes. put in the chicken and stock, bring to a boil and simmer for 35-40
minutes. remove the chicken and chop into bite sized pieces, then use a blender
or food processor to puree the rest. stir in the chicken and enjoy.
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terrepruitt said
I am thinking that I will just use this basic cooking method for all the soups. This is how you did the green garlic. So this is how I did the baby bok choy. And this is how I did my most recent pot of butternut squash.
Right now I am concentrating on veggie soups. I use chicken stock, because I am not trying to go vegetarian, I am just trying to give John and I other ways of eating veggies.
In reference to the potato or apple or parsnip — do you think that each would give it a different flavor? I don’t know what a parsnip tastes like, but I would think an apple would be a different — yet not STRONG, but different flavor than a potato.
Thanks! You got me into the soups!
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Elaine said
I think apple would give a more distinct (but delicate) flavor than the rest, and very good. I tend to substitute parsnips for potato in soups because I essentially use them as a thickening agent for the puree and they have a mildly spicy flavor while I find potatoes to just be bland. Depending on taste preference you could easily use turnips as well, but they’re more radish-y tasting than parsnips. I use turnips instead of potatoes when I make corned beef hash.
Looks like another spell of cool weather is coming – SOUP TIME!
How do you feel about artichokes? My new passion is stuffed artichoke bottoms – I made them for the first time last weekend and I’m totally in love. If you don’t hate artichoke, I’ll make them for you next time you come over!
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terrepruitt said
Yay for the cold!!!!
I’ve never used/cooked with either turnips nor parsnips. I guess I can give all three a whirl. Not at once, but eventually.
I love artichokes, but I love to boil them and eat the leaves with mayo so I don’t eat them often because I don’t need to “spoon” mayo in my mouth. 🙂 I saw the picture of your bottoms, but I didn’t see you follow it up with a recipe and I couldn’t find it on your favorite blog either so I guess you will have to share. E-mail it to me so that when I make them I can take a picture and use it as a blog post myself. (Always looking for things to post.) I don’t hate artichokes. 🙂
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