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Celery


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Love celery, when it's good. Love its crunch, its taste, the freshness of its smell. But so often, much too often, it is bitter and really truly awful. Spit-outable. And I have no idea how to tell the difference when I'm buying it. It's always a gamble. Anyone have any hints?

Basically, it turns bitter the longer it is from the time it was picked. Right out of the ground... no bitterness.

I have no idea how to visually tell how far gone it is, but my first hint would be to try and buy it from Farm stands instead of supermarkets if you can find ones which carry it. Or maybe grow it yourself, although I admit I have no idea how hard that is, having never attempted it.

Jon Lurie, aka "jhlurie"

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I have no idea how to visually tell how far gone it is, but my first hint would be to try and buy it from Farm stands instead of supermarkets if you can find ones which carry it.  Or maybe grow it yourself, although I admit I have no idea how hard that is, having never attempted it.

Our celery plants are trying to take over our backyard. If you blanch the plants by placing milk cartons or something over them, they stay white and have a milder flavor, but now that we have more like a celery hedge, I've given up. If it ever stops raining I'm going to try to dig it out so we can use the space for something else.

allison

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just had a lovely basket of veggies as part of a pinzimono-ish starter in umbria. the celery was a real revelation as it was sooooooo delicious. the fennel was the other revelation. its always dissappointing when i eat it in britain, and the us, but in italy, i remember exactly why i fell in love with it.

i'm usually part of the root and leaf brigade of celery, the root for french style goodies, the leaf for greek cooking, and the stalk only interested me for peanut butter.

but then this glorious celery, in umbria, with olive oil, salt and pepper for dipping. so crisp and juicy and earthy rather than kinda metalic, watery and salty which is the way celery usually tastes to me. it was so good i had to stop myself from scarfing the whole basket full. partially out of good manners and thoughts for the others at the table, and partially cause i knew that truffled bruschetta was the next course.

so yeah, i'm on the trail of delicious celery myself. at this very minute.

i have no idea where i'll start. i may have to emmigrate.

x m

Marlena the spieler

www.marlenaspieler.com

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Hmmm, I've changed my sig haven't I.

Just to recap

Celery is the food of the devil

I can't stand the stuff raw. I shudder to even think about it.

Diced and cooked as part of a mirepoix or the 'Trinity' I can live with.

But raw - No! It even taints the food it touches - If another vegetable has been laid next to it in a salad or crudite platter I can taste it.

I'm no lover of cucumber either, but compared to celery it is the food of the gods.

And whats with the string?

Some time ago I posted that I was going to try a Simon Hopkinson recipe for cream of celery soup (Think it might have been in my bio thread), well I tried it.

Don't think I'll repeat the experience.

I love animals.

They are delicious.

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And whats with the string?

:laugh::laugh:

Very good.

I admit, I usually buy celery at the supermarket. And it's probably been sitting around for at least half a year, which is why it's usually bitter. I don't think I've ever seen celery at the greenmarket (I ususally go to Union Square), but once they're up and running again I will look for it. And I will put it in water in the fridge. I will try anything, because good celery is really good (string or no string)!! Thanks for the suggestions.

Heh heh. What's with the string? Hee hee.

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I love celery. I have a special fondness for it because it starred in the first meal I ever cooked that made someone really happy.

I was 20 and sharing an apartment in Hamburg with a friend. She had passed some sort of exam and I decided to cook her a real meal. Until then, my biggest culinary achievement was flaking a can of tuna on some overcooked pasta.

For some reason, that evening I suddenly could cook! I made a pastasauce with lightly boiled celery, a bit of onion, and bluecheese and cream. A tomato salad to go with it. All those flavors that go so well together.

I can still remember the look on my friend's face when she started to eat (I guess her expectations were not that high.. her biggest culinary achievement was instant noodles :biggrin: ). It was the first time I realized what good food can do.

That's why I love celery!

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I had a great celery salad recently at Pizza D.O.C.s in Chicago. It was just cut up celery & sliced Granny Smith apples with shaved Parmesan and lemon juice. What a palate cleanser.

rikkitikki

"the only thing we knew for sure about henry porter was that his name wasn't henry porter" : bob

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I love celery. When I was a child, I even used to like the strings. But now that I'm in Japan, I rarely have it. I just can't justify spending Y158 (about US$1.70) on a single stalk of celery. Sure, it's a huge stalk, but it's just one!

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Celery is part of my fantasy beach breakfast. Minor role, mind you, but still necessary. The celery stirs my bloody Mary while I nibble on a dozen raw oysters (or maybe two bloody Marys and two dozen raw oysters). One of these days, I'll be at the beach in cool weather when I can actually get the raw oysters :raz:.

"My only regret in life is that I did not drink more Champagne." John Maynard Keynes

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