How to peel leaf, stem and root celery? Do you need to peel celery and how to do it correctly? Should celery be peeled or not?
Celery is a spicy vegetable that comes from the Mediterranean countries. In terms of the content of vitamins and beneficial microelements, it occupies one of the leading positions among vegetables. Thanks to the high content of essential oils, it gives dishes and salads a specific bright aroma. All parts of the plant are eaten both raw and processed. And in this article we will look at the types of celery and how to properly clean it.
Sweet celery- a biennial herbaceous plant, the appearance of the leaves is very similar to parsley, only much more massive. In the first year, the plant forms a powerful rosette of dark green leaves with a beautiful gloss, fleshy cuttings and a white strong root or even a root crop. In the second year, green leaves appear in early spring, and by mid-July the plant is already blooming; in August, the seeds ripen and the celery dries out almost immediately.
The appearance of celery depends on the variety to which it belongs: leaf, petiole, root.
Leaf celery is grown for fragrant greens. rich in vitamins. They are eaten fresh, in salads, as a seasoning for soups and other dishes.
This type of green has thin stems and a tough root, both of which are not suitable for eating.
Petiole celery is cultivated to produce petioles and leaves. The petioles reach a width of 4-5 cm, are very juicy, oily, and contain a large amount of essential oils, vitamins, and useful minerals. They are used to prepare first and second courses, dietary low-calorie salads, and added to pickles and preserves to impart a piquant, bright aroma and pleasant taste.
grown solely for the root crop, similar to a large white beet and reaching from 500 to 900 grams of weight. The root vegetable is a real storehouse of vitamins and has a beneficial effect on the human body. It is used both fresh and in salads and hot dishes.
The leaf and petiole types are sown directly into the soil in early spring or winter, and the root type is planted in seedlings.
Useful and harmful properties of stems and roots
Stem celery is a valuable food product and has amazing medicinal properties. It would take too long to list all the beneficial qualities of the vegetable, but the most basic are: beneficial effects on the nervous, cardiovascular, and digestive systems.
The healthy vegetable contains a large amount of proteins, B vitamins, carotene, vitamins E, K, C, valuable amino acids - nicotinic, asparagine, tyrosine, essential oils, trace elements - potassium, phosphorus, calcium, magnesium, zinc, iron, manganese.
Celery has the following effects on the human body:
- slows down the aging process, helps fight senile dementia;
- contributes to the restoration of water-salt balance;
- essential oils relieve nervous tension, increase performance, vitality, and resistance to stress;
- has a beneficial effect on the walls of blood vessels, thereby restoring blood circulation and normalizing high blood pressure;
- due to the high content of vital minerals, vitamins B, PP, E, C, it has a positive effect on the condition of the skin, hair, lips and eyes;
- the root vegetable has a diuretic effect, daily consumption cleanses the kidneys and urinary tract;
- salads from raw vegetables with the addition of grated root vegetables should be consumed during diets, for patients with diabetes mellitus, and for vegetarians;
- Regular consumption of celery greens relieves heartburn, flatulence, constipation, and stomach cramps, as it promotes the digestion of food and removes toxins from the body.
Different parts of celery close-up on the table This is far from all the miracle vegetable.
But such a powerful remedy cannot be equally useful for everyone, so there are contraindications:
- in case of urolithiasis, to avoid the movement of stones and exacerbation of the disease;
- with varicose veins, the presence of blood clots;
- due to the high content of essential oils, it is not recommended during pregnancy and breastfeeding, with colitis and enterocolitis.
How to eat a stem vegetable
All parts of the plant are equally useful and edible. But since most of the essential compounds, vitamins and microelements are destroyed during heat treatment, celery is eaten raw, after peeling. Young green leaves are used as a seasoning for salads, fish and meat dishes.
The root vegetable is peeled, and the juicy white pulp, grated, is added to fruit, vegetable and even meat salads.
How to clean the petioles
The juicy, crispy, aromatic pulp of the petioles is an excellent ingredient for salads, appetizers, and sauces. But not many people know that in order to fully enjoy the taste and aroma of green stems, they must be thoroughly cleaned.
The top layer of the petioles consists of long, hard fibers that make chewing the vegetable difficult.. Therefore, before eating, cutting into salads, etc. you need to cut off the top layer using a regular or economy knife.
If there are no fibers when breaking the stem, then you can start chopping or slicing the vegetable.
Methods for proper cooking
Dishes made from celery stalks and roots may not be as rich in vitamins and fiber, but they will certainly have a piquant taste and aroma. The vegetable is used to prepare soups, vegetable stews, side dishes, as a filler or additive to sauces. It can be boiled, stewed or fried in sunflower or olive oil.
Without a doubt, celery is exactly the vegetable that should always be on our table in any form. Such a healthy product cannot be excluded from the diet. According to nutritionists, daily use of the product will have a positive effect on the entire body, the functioning of internal organs, the condition of hair, nails and skin.
Because of its specific aroma and spicy taste, celery is not very popular among our compatriots, so it is not surprising that many have no idea how to peel celery, and does it make sense to do this at all, or is it permissible to eat stalks and root vegetables unpeeled?
1 How to properly prepare celery root vegetables for consumption
If, having become familiar with the beneficial properties of celery root, you decide to include it in your diet, it would be a good idea to immediately learn how to properly peel celery so as not to spoil your first impressions of this amazing vegetable plant. After all, with the right approach, celery can become your indispensable assistant in the kitchen: soups with the addition of roots become richer and more aromatic, grated fresh root vegetables give salads a tart taste, stalks go well in salads with seafood and make vegetable stews tastier. In addition, celery produces wonderful freshly squeezed juice, the healing properties of which are extremely high!
There are usually no problems with celery greens - it is enough to rinse it under the tap and finely chop it to add to soups, main courses, sauces, salads, or to decorate cooked dishes with delicate leaves. But how to clean the root and petiole celery, we will take a closer look.
Video about the proper cleaning of celery
So, are you holding a large, scary-looking, gnarled celery root vegetable in your hands for the first time and don’t know which way to approach it? In fact, there are no special tricks on how to peel celery. But to make your work easier, try to choose root vegetables in the store that are firm, less knotty, and have smooth skin. In terms of weight, they may seem quite heavy for their size. The greens remaining on the top should be green, not yellowed or withered. Such root vegetables will be much easier to clean, and there will be less waste during cleaning.
Photo of celery
It’s worth noting right away that it is necessary to peel root vegetables; only completely peeled, well-washed roots are added to dishes.
How to peel celery roots:
- first of all, the root crop should be thoroughly washed, and then the top of the root and its lower part should be cut off with a knife;
- celery roots are quite large - half or a quarter of one root may be enough for you to prepare one dish, so for convenience, cut the root into the required number of parts and put those that are not needed in the refrigerator;
- from those parts that you are immediately going to use for food, carefully remove the skin with a sharp thin knife or a vegetable peeler;
- scrape out all the recesses and cut out dubious places on the white pulp;
- the spongy parts have no taste, so they can also be cut out immediately;
- now all that remains is to rinse the peeled parts of the root vegetable and use as you wish: grate, cut into small cubes, large pieces, strips, slices, etc.;
- Pour cold water over the chopped pieces to prevent them from darkening.
In the photo there is celery
If you plan to eat celery root for the purpose of losing weight, you should not cut out the spongy parts - they are coarse dietary fiber, the processing of which the body spends a lot of energy.
Uneven, knotty root vegetables can be easier to clean by cutting them into small pieces.
2 Petiole celery - is it worth peeling, and what is the best way to do it?
Conflicting opinions can be heard regarding celery petioles: some argue that the stalks must be peeled before eating, others limit themselves to only washing the petioles in running water, without bothering to clean the stalks. So after all, do you need to peel celery?
Video about peeling celery stalks
It all depends on what petioles you come across in the store. For example, in young stems growing inside a bunch, the fibers are not felt at all, but old petioles may turn out to be tough and fibrous - without preliminary cleaning, eating them will not be so tasty. Therefore, you should carefully select petiole celery in the store: the plants should have fresh, bright green leaves and straight stems, but if some leaves and petioles are missing, this may mean that the celery is stale. It is best to buy unwashed celery if possible, because it tastes better than stalks that have been washed before sale.
Photo of celery
Before peeling the celery stalks, rinse them under the tap with warm water. After this, you should carefully remove the fibers and hard veins from the surface of the petioles with a sharp knife or a vegetable peeler.
Not every even experienced housewife can say with confidence that she knows how to peel celery correctly and whether it needs to be done at all. Let's try to figure out this seemingly simple question.
Celery is used in cooking as a seasoning: its roots and petioles, which have a spicy taste and tart smell, are eaten. To enhance the aroma, it is added to first courses; when fresh, it is chopped for salads, and the petioles go well with both seafood and vegetables. Celery juice is often used in folk medicine.
Greenery
The leaves of this plant are not eaten as often as the roots: they do not need to be cleaned, just rinse thoroughly in running water. The greens can be chopped or left as whole leaves, depending on how you plan to use them (decorate a salad or chop for soup).
Roots
The question of whether celery needs to be peeled concerns mainly root vegetables. It is quite large and knotty in celery. If you have never chosen a product in a store before, then stop at the smoothest and hardest specimens with small green leaves at the top. Only well-washed and peeled roots are eaten.
After washing, cut off the top and tail of the root (as when cooking beets). If the root vegetable is large, cut off the amount of celery required for preparing the dish, and put the rest in the refrigerator. Remove the skin of the root vegetable with a sharp knife or vegetable peeler. After peeling, white pulp should remain, so those places that the vegetable peeler did not capture should be cut out with the tip of a knife. After rinsing the root vegetable, you can chop it using a grater or knife (depending on the type of dish for which the plant is intended). Celery is cut in different ways (cubes, slices, strips, etc.) - the main thing is not to forget to fill it with cold water, especially if it will be left in the open air before use (celery will quickly darken without water).
Petioles
Peeling stalk celery is not always necessary. Petioles, i.e. shoots of the stem can simply be washed with water if they do not look too dirty or old: such specimens should have straight stems and bright green leaves. By the way, celery will taste more pleasant if it has not been washed before sale. At home, you simply rinse the stems with warm running water. If the purchased celery is still a little old, then you can peel the celery stalks from the outside: using a sharp knife or vegetable peeler, carefully remove the hard veins and fibers - this will make it more suitable for consumption.
Bon appetit and successful culinary experiments!
How to peel celery
Celery is one of the healthiest plants we eat. Like many other plants, celery was first used in medicine, and only then in cooking. Nowadays you can buy celery all year round, which is good news. After all, celery contains many vitamins, mineral salts, protein and essential oils.
Celery helps improve immunity and restores metabolism. It is recommended to be used for neuroses, sleep disorders, and asthenia. In cooking, celery is used to prepare salads, first and second courses, stewed, boiled, fried, baked and eaten raw.
And if peeling stalked celery is quite simple, then the root is a little more difficult, because its peel is not suitable for food. And knotty roots only complicate the entire process of cleaning root celery. There are two ways to clean celery: complex but economical and simple but not economical. Don’t forget just one thing - both methods require preliminary thorough washing of the celery tuber.
Paradoxes—that’s why they are paradoxes—to lie in wait for us in the most unexpected places. For example, in a grocery store or your own refrigerator. For example, many of us can explain in detail how to properly cut a pineapple or remove the pit from an avocado, but at the same time we have a very vague idea of \u200b\u200bhow to eat celery. Common situation? Although this unpretentious vegetable can always be found in the garden bed of the average grandmother-gardener. Maybe we should ask her? No, it’s better to find out on our own how to eat celery with taste and benefit.
Composition and benefits of celeryAny vegetables are useful and necessary in the diet, but the unique feature of celery is that it combines the properties of both greens and root vegetables. Moreover: in Tsarist Russia, celery managed to play the role of an ornamental plant for some time, and only then - a medicinal and nutritious product. Nowadays, literally all parts of celery have been studied and used: roots, stems, leaves, and seeds. Their properties and chemical composition, of course, differ slightly, but not so much that it is possible to single out one, the most useful part of celery, and abandon all the rest. Celery can be eaten for many purposes: for the taste and aroma of dishes, for treatment and maintenance of health, for beauty and longevity. This vegetable is boiled, stewed, baked, canned and dried. But the maximum benefit comes, of course, from eating fresh celery.
All parts of celery contain glutamic acid, an essential component of protein in living organisms and a powerful neurotransmitter. It's no coincidence that its name seems familiar to you - but celery contains natural glutamate, which gives food a pleasant flavor, and is not a synthetic flavor enhancer. Celery root contains only about 2% protein, while its leaves reach 3-4%. In addition, celery root contains more natural sugars, while leaves, on the contrary, contain fewer carbohydrates. But vitamins C, PP, groups B, K, E, carotene and pectins are present both in the stems and in the rhizome. And mineral salts of iron, potassium, calcium, sodium, magnesium phosphorus, essential oils, flavonoids and organic acids “fill” celery literally “from head to toe,” that is, they are present in high concentrations in all parts of the plant, above-ground and underground.
Who shouldn't eat celery?
Such a rich composition of celery and the properties associated with it simply could not go unnoticed, so celery has found application in a variety of areas: cooking, medicine, dietetics. Depending on your goals and health status, you should eat celery differently. Or don't use it at all. In particular, it is better to avoid eating celery root and leaves in any form:
- Pregnant women for more than 6 months to avoid the negative effects of celery components on the development of the fetus.
- Nursing mothers: celery in their food can cause allergies in the child.
- Patients with kidney stones, because celery provokes an exacerbation of the disease and the movement of stones.
- People with high stomach acidity and those suffering from gastritis or ulcers.
- For people suffering from epilepsy, celery aggravates the symptoms of this disease.
Anyone who does not fall into these categories can and should eat celery. Moreover, there are many ways to do this not only usefully, but also with great pleasure:
- The pulp of celery root, although fleshy, is soft (compared to other root vegetables) and delicate in consistency. It has a spicy, slightly harsh taste that perfectly complements meat dishes.
- Celery stalks are juicy and crunchy with a fresh flavor, which is why most people prefer to eat them.
- Celery leaves have a spicy taste, slightly reminiscent of parsley. Used both fresh and dried.
- Celery seeds contain a lot of essential oils, and this gives them a worthy place in food recipes - as a seasoning, and in chemical laboratories - as a component of pharmaceuticals and perfume compositions.
- Celery juice as a natural dietary supplement strengthens the immune system, helps fight excess weight and prevents the development of diabetes.
Choose one or another part of the vegetable to your taste or use it in the form in which it brings the greatest benefit:
- For weight loss, celery can be consumed fresh on its own (stems, leaves) or as part of soup, salad (grated or chopped root). The energy value of celery is only 20 kcal/100 g, so it is an ideal product for those who want to gain and/or maintain slimness.
- For digestion, celery is consumed in the form of oil, seeds or root, prepared in any way. The main thing is that celery essential oil gets into the stomach, which stimulates the production of enzymes and juices. And celery fiber helps overcome constipation.
- To suppress appetite, add celery juice to honey and take 1 tablespoon half an hour before meals.
- For diseases of the kidneys and urinary tract, celery, dried and crushed, replaces table salt in food.
- To protect the heart and blood vessels, it is useful to eat celery root, the biologically active substances in which strengthen the myocardium and reduce cholesterol levels.
- Celery helps with high blood pressure due to its high content of potassium and magnesium, as well as its diuretic effect.
- To treat the skin, celery leaves are used together with ghee: mixed in equal proportions, these ingredients form a healing balm.
- To strengthen the immune system and physical strength, celery is consumed in any form: on its own or as part of dishes. The main thing is that the consumption of celery is regular, ideally included in the daily menu, which is especially important for schoolchildren, students, and athletes.
- To get rid of stress and relax, just eat a couple of stalks of celery or massage your temples with oil from its seeds.
- To enhance potency, celery, when added to any food, brings into the male body a certain amount of the phytohormone androsterone, which has a positive effect on sexual function.
- To cleanse the blood and in cases of poisoning, celery removes toxic substances from the body - for this purpose it is best to consume celery juice mixed with dandelion and nettle juices in equal proportions.
- To enrich your diet and simply have a good mood and vitality, many recipes have been created for a wide variety of dishes, with which you can easily make celery an integral part of your diet.
We have already found out that all parts of celery can be eaten. It remains to figure out how to do this with the maximum benefit that one or another component can provide. In addition, it doesn’t hurt to include several simple recipes for dishes with celery in your home cookbook, so that if necessary, you don’t have to rack your brains on how to cook celery quickly and tasty. As for the benefits, both you and your household will receive them in any case if you eat celery as often as possible and do not forget to use at least one (or better yet, all alternately) of these recipes: - Salad with celery and apple. Take 200 grams of celery stalks, one large green apple, juice of half a lemon. Remove the core of the apple, cut it together with the skin and celery into equal small cubes. Stir and pour over lemon juice. This is the basis of the salad, which can be endlessly modified by adding and changing new ingredients: white cheese, avocado, cucumbers, rhubarb, orange, shrimp, fish, meat fillet, walnuts, olive oil, yogurt, mustard, honey, etc.
- Celery pate. Take one medium-sized celery root, 250 grams of skinless chicken fillet, half an onion, 1 tablespoon of sour cream, 1 tablespoon of refined vegetable oil. Boil the meat in salted water. Chop the celery as desired, boil until soft and mince along with the chicken. Peel and chop the onion. Grease a frying pan with oil, fry the onion until golden brown. Mix all ingredients: celery with meat, onion, sour cream. Serve the pate as a cold appetizer or spread on bread for sandwiches.
- Celery with yolk and onion. Take a celery tuber weighing about 300 grams, two eggs, a bunch of chives, 1 tablespoon of olive oil, a pinch of salt and ground pepper. Wash the whole celery, peel and wrap tightly in foil. Preheat the oven to 90°C, place the celery in it and bake for an hour and a half. After this, remove from the oven, cool in foil and only then unwrap. Cut the celery into slices or slices 3-4 mm thick. Lightly whisk olive oil with salt and pepper. Chop the onion. Separate the yolks from the whites. To serve, place an equal amount of celery on two plates, place a yolk in the middle of each, sprinkle with onion and drizzle with oil dressing.
- Turkish stewed celery. Take 2 celery roots with a total weight of about 500 grams, 2 sweet red peppers, 2 carrots, 1 onion, 200 grams of canned green peas, 150 ml of olive oil, juice of 1 lemon, 2 tablespoons of sugar, half a bunch of dill. Peel the peppers, carrots and onions, cut into equal-sized cubes, place in a frying pan greased with 3 tablespoons of oil. Simmer until the vegetables are ready, then add the peas, salt, sprinkle with sugar and pour over half the lemon juice. Stir and leave covered. Peel the celery and cut into slices about 1 cm thick. Add the remaining lemon juice to lightly salted water and cook the celery in it for 5 minutes. Pour the remaining oil into the saucepan, spread the celery evenly, and the stewed vegetables on it. Cover with a lid and simmer over low heat for 15-20 minutes. Cool, sprinkle with chopped dill and serve.
- Celery soup for weight loss. Take a medium-sized celery root (about 300 grams), a bunch of celery leaves, 4 tomatoes, 500 grams of white cabbage, 150 grams of bell pepper, any fresh herbs. Cut all the vegetables into arbitrary pieces of approximately the same size (chop the cabbage). Boil 2.5 liters of water and place vegetables in it. Cook over moderate heat for 10 minutes, then reduce heat and cook vegetables until cooked through. Meanwhile, chop fresh herbs. Place it in a saucepan with soup, cover with a lid and leave for half an hour. This soup can be a light summer dish or a product for a short-term mono-diet.
- Fasting day on celery. During the day, eat in small portions at least every two hours, only fresh vegetables (except potatoes, beets and carrots), of which celery should occupy at least 50% of the volume. You can replace one or more meals with the celery soup from the previous recipe.