Canada
It’s OK if you really can’t wrap your head around celery’s sudden surge in popularity. Maybe it’s the region of the crudité plate you avoid. Maybe you’ll only eat it stuffed with peanut butter or doused in dip. Maybe you consider cooking with it only as one of the aromatic veggies in the mirepoix you start your famous chicken soup with. Maybe you’ve dipped your toe into the celery juice craze. Or maybe you think about celery only when you’re watching a re-run of “Wonder Pets” and they’re celebrating another teamwork-fueled baby animal rescue with a crisp celery snack.
Today, there are more than 975K posts in Instagram hashtagged #celery. Seriously. Whodathunkit?
The world seems to have just discovered all the nutritional benefits of celery – like its anti-inflammatory properties and great range of antioxidants from vitamins C and A to flavonoids and folate. Well, celery’s been a fave of ours here at Earthbound Farm for a long time…but then again, we’re kind of veggie nerds. ? Celery is an especially excellent veggie to buy organic. Sure, we’re biased, but it’s often called out on lists that make those recommendations. We’re glad to see it getting it’s due and we’re happy to share a little about why — and how — we enjoy it.
Let’s start on the farm. If you ever had the chance to be on a celery farm (or even drive past one!), you’d know why celery is considered an aromatic vegetable. The air on a celery farm is thick with the fresh, clean scent of this fragrant plant and it’s even stronger during harvest. And it’s a real treat to watch the celery harvesters work so quickly and skillfully, moving through the thigh-high plants with a keen eye and a sharp knife, all to get the freshest, crunchiest, most delicious celery to your local store.
Farmer Alex Romans grows quite a bit of Earthbound Farm’s organic celery and he’s been doing it for decades. Celery is one of the more difficult crops to grow organically — it’s susceptible to some pests and funguses that can wreak havoc on the harvest. But Alex knows better than most how to nurture the best organic celery possible.
“I especially enjoyed growing celery organically,” says Alex. “It takes more skill because I have less tools in my toolbox to utilize and have to understand my ground my rotation and my inputs so much better than with my conventional farming. I love that I can go home and feed my children what I grew in the field that day.”
Besides being the internet’s trendiest “it” vegetable these days, we want you to also know that celery tastes great, too, especially in the right recipes.
One of our favorite ways to get our daily dose of celery goodness is in a morning smoothie. Yep. You heard it. Try our Morning Celebration Smoothie. The celery adds a bright, fresh flavor to this satisfying green smoothie:
This hearty fall salad features celery as one of the ingredients that combine to make a delicious yet simple salad main dish:
Do you secretly (or not so secretly) love a Waldorf Salad? Here’s an update version with a lighter dressing that still heavy on flavor:
For something altogether different, try our Celery Amandine. Celery hearts braised in chicken stock is a rather old-fashioned recipe, but it’s stood the test of time. This cooking technique transforms crunchy celery into a meltingly tender veggie side dish:
Looking for something simple, delicious and different for a cool fall dinner? This Celery Apple Bisque calls for six cups of celery! In this easy and elegant recipe, we add apples to mellow the celery’s herbal qualities and add a hint of sweetness, too:
