Cultivation and uses
Celery is a very popular vegetable, in Western cuisine used primarily in salads and soups. Chinese cuisine uses a variety known as Chinese celery or Oriental celery, with thinner stalks and a stronger flavor; it is rarely consumed raw, but is often added to soups and stir-fries. In North America, commercial production of celery is dominated by a variety called Pascal celery. Gardeners can grow a range of cultivars , many which differ little from the wild species, mainly in having stouter leaf stems. They are ranged under two classes, white and red; the white cultivars being generally the best flavoured, and most crisp and tender.
The wild form of celery is known as smallage. It has a furrowed stalk with wedge-shaped leaves, the whole plant having a coarse, rank taste, and a peculiar smell. With cultivation and blanching, the stalks lose their acrid qualities and assume the mild, sweetish, aromatic taste peculiar to celery as a salad plant.
The plants are raised from seed, sown either in a hot bed or in the open garden according to the season of the year, and after one or two thinnings out and transplantings they are, on attaining a height of 15-20 cm, planted out in deep trenches for convenience of blanching, which is effected by earthing up to exclude light from the stems.
In the past, celery was grown as a vegetable for winter and early spring; because of its antitoxic properties, it was perceived as a cleansing tonic, welcomed after the stagnation of winter.
Food uses
As a salad plant, celery, especially if at all "stringy", is difficult to digest. Celery has 'negative calories', as the effort to consume it burns more calories than it contains. The net loss in calories is not significant in and of itself, but as with other low calorie foods, it can be an asset to dieters because when the stomach is filled up with celery it can quench feelings of hunger while leaving less room for higher calorie foods. It also possesses valuable diuretic properties.
Both blanched and green it is stewed and used in soups, the seeds also being used as a flavouring ingredient. Even after long immersion in broth, the stalks remain somewhat crisp, and are useful for adding texture to the soup.
In the south of Europe celery is seldom blanched, but is much used in its natural condition.
Chopped, it is one of the three vegetables considered the holy trinity of Louisiana Creole and Cajun cuisine. It is also one of the three vegetables (together with onions and carrots) that constitute the French mirepoix, which is often used as a base for sauces and soups.
Celery seed is used as a spice. When combined with salt, the resulting spice blend is called celery salt. Celery salt is used as an alternate to ordinary salt seasoning in various recipes and cocktails. It is notably used to enhance the flavor of Bloody Mary and the Chicago-style hot dog.
Medicinal uses
The whole plant is gently stimulant, nourishing, and restorative; it can be liquefied, with the juice taken for joint and urinary tract inflammations, such as rheumatoid arthritis, cystitis, or urethritis, for weak conditions, and for nervous exhaustion.
The seeds, harvested after the plant flowers in its second year, are the basis for a homeopathic extract used as a diuretic. The extract is believed to help clear toxins from the system, so are especially good for gout, where uric acid crystals collect in the joints, and arthritis. They are also used as a mild digestive stimulant. The extract can be combined with almond or sunflower oil, and massaged into arthritic joints or for painful gout in the feet or toes.
The root is an effective diuretic and has been taken for urinary stones and gravel. It also acts as a bitter digestive remedy and liver stimulant. A tincture can be used as a diuretic in hypertension and urinary disorders, as a component in arthritic remedies, or as a kidney energy stimulant and cleanser.
