What does leaf celery look like?
There are several types of celery - root, petiole and leaf. The latter species contains a large volume of leaves.
Main characteristics:
- the root is thin, growing deep into the ground;
- the leaves are formed from a rosette, that is, the base is closely intertwined with each other, resembling a bush;
- height depends on the variety and can vary from 36 to 65 cm.
The leaves are considered the edible part of the plant. They resemble parsley in appearance, but the smell and taste are significantly different.
How to properly eat leaf celery?
The plant is recommended to be consumed raw. Cooking, baking, stewing reduce the amount of vitamins and other useful substances in the product. Allowed to dry and freeze.
When is the best time to eat chives?
- in the morning - allows you to cheer up, as it has a stimulating effect on the central nervous system;
- for constipation or poor intestinal permeability, drink freshly squeezed juice, diluting it with water in a ratio of 1 to 10.
- before meals, as it increases appetite.
Despite the benefits of the product, it must be taken in moderation. The daily norm is up to 150 g per day.
Do you eat celery leaves?
Add to fresh salads, dry, freeze. Grind in a blender, prepare freshly squeezed drinks, and use as a filling in baked goods.
Use of celery in cooking
Any part of the plant is eaten. Greens are added to fresh salads and cold appetizers. The roots are eaten raw, boiled, fried, baked. They go well with spices, vegetables, and aromatic herbs.
Cannot be used with sweet fruits. The stems complement the taste of sour fruits, and the leaves are only suitable as a seasoning.
When preparing hot dishes, the petioles do not need to be used; only the leaf part will be sufficient.
What products are the leaves compatible with:
- various spices;
- tuna;
- boiled meat;
- vegetables.
The dish will be healthy and tasty if you add paprika, nuts, and other fresh herbs to the celery. The stems are suitable for making soup and casseroles.
Recipes for aromatic dishes
Celery baked in sour cream is very tasty
. The root needs to be peeled, cut into pieces in the form of “noodles” and boiled until tender in salted water. Then the celery is removed and placed in a greased form. Top the vegetable with sour cream, to which you can add a teaspoon of flour for thickness. For a beautiful crust, everything is sprinkled with grated cheese. The dish is baked in the oven until cooked.
Very light dietary celery soup
suitable even for a romantic evening. Celery root should be grated on a coarse grater or very finely chopped and lightly stewed in vegetable oil. Then you need to add 1-2 tablespoons of flour to it, pour hot water over it all and boil until tender. Mix the yolk with a spoonful of sour cream, beat with finely chopped parsley and dill and, stirring, pour into the hot soup.
is even healthier .
The root should be chopped into thin strips and poured with salted boiling water. After 2-3 minutes, the water can be drained. While the celery is cooling, chop the onions, carrots, and apples. The salad should be salted to taste and seasoned with sour cream. It is appropriate to add a boiled egg.
Traditional healers believe that celery provides a great service to men. It is not for nothing that Pushkin is credited with the lines “To make a husband dearer to his wife, give him celery...”
Pear soup with cheese
Main ingredients:
- celery root – 700 g;
- pears - 2 fruits;
- butter – 50 g;
- garlic – 1 clove;
- onion – 1 head;
- cheese (mozzarella) – 150 g;
- spices to taste.
Cooking sequence:
- Add a portion of oil to a preheated frying pan, then add chopped onions, garlic and spices. This whole mass is fried well.
- Then diced pears and celery are laid out in a frying pan.
- After five minutes, add water so that the entire mixture of vegetables and pears is completely covered. Cook for 20 minutes over low heat.
- Then you need to remove the workpiece from the stove and let it cool, then beat it with a mixer. You should get a puree, to which you can add grated cheese.
- The puree soup is put back on the stove and brought to a boil.
- Before the end of cooking, you can also add spices to achieve the desired taste.
Roasted celery root
Fried celery root is ideal for meat and fish dishes. Cooking time 25 minutes.
Ingredients:
- root vegetable - 1 pc.;
- carrots – 1 pc.;
- leek – 1/3 part;
- dill and cilantro - a small bunch each;
- lemon – ½;
- oil - for frying;
- spices - to taste.
Cooking method:
- Vegetables are peeled and the pulp is cut into slices. To prevent it from darkening, sprinkle it with lemon juice.
- Pour oil into a heated frying pan and fry the celery until golden brown.
- Reduce the heat and, with the lid closed, simmer the vegetable until soft.
- Next, diced onions, carrots, herbs and spices are added to the root vegetable.
- With constant stirring, the vegetables are brought to readiness.
Celery soup
Ingredients:
- cabbage – 1 pc.;
- root vegetable – 200 g;
- onions – 6 pcs.;
- sweet pepper – 2 pcs.;
- tomatoes – 6 pcs.;
- green beans;
- tomato juice – 1.5 l;
- spices - to taste.
Cooking method:
- Vegetables are peeled, cut into small strips and poured with tomato juice so that it covers all the products. If this does not happen, add boiled water to the pan.
- Place the pan on the stove and bring to a boil.
- As soon as the soup boils, cover it with a lid and remove from the stove.
- After 10 minutes, after infusion, the dish is ready to eat. Herbs and spices are added to it to taste.
Celery and pineapple salad - recipe with photos, very tasty
The appetizer will delight you with an unexpected combination of flavors. It can be served on the holiday table. Guests will not be disappointed!
For 2 hearty servings you will need:
- Celery stalks – 3 pieces.
- Fresh or canned pineapple (one can or half a whole medium-sized fruit). Use canned food only if fresh fruit is not available! The difference in taste is significant.
- Green apple – 1 pc. Choose a medium size that is not too soft.
- A quarter cup of pecans. If not, substitute walnuts or cashews. I like the last option, but today I bought nuts unsuccessfully. I had to make do with what I had
- Low-fat yogurt without additives. No mayonnaise! At 100polezno.ru we discuss only what is really useful!
Procedure:
- Cut off the petioles.
- Separate the top part with the leaves.
- Wash thoroughly in running water, dry with a napkin.
- If the celery is very young, then you don’t need to do anything. If the stems are covered with a tough film, carefully remove it. Use a short knife or vegetable peeler.
- Cut crosswise into small pieces about 0.5 cm thick.
- Add yogurt and diced pineapple.
- Add some salt.
- Stir.
- Top with nuts or sesame seeds.
By the way, you can cut the stems into 10-12 cm pieces and serve with sauce. I loved dipping them in hummus or peanut butter. Original, and most importantly – not troublesome.
Celery in batter
The delicate batter makes the celery soft and juicy.
Ingredients:
- celery root – 1 pc.;
- flour – 100 g;
- eggs – 2-4 pcs.;
- cream – 100 ml;
- pepper, salt - to taste;
- oil - for deep frying.
Cooking method:
- Celery is cut into medium-thick slices.
- Flour is mixed with cream, eggs and spices are added.
- If the batter turns out liquid, then add flour.
- Each circle is dipped in batter and deep-fried until golden brown.
The finished dish is sprinkled with herbs.
Composition of celery leaves
The calorie content of the plant is 30 Kcal per 100 g of product. Chives root 32 Kcal.
The nutritional value:
- fats - 0.1 g;
- proteins - 0.9 g;
- carbohydrates - 2.1 g.
Vitamins:
- A;
- WITH;
- group B - B1, B2, B3.
Micro and macroelements:
- calcium;
- magnesium;
- potassium;
- phosphorus;
- sodium;
- manganese;
- iron;
- zinc.
Leaf celery is rich in acids: nicotinic and glutamic.
Harvesting and processing
The shelf life of pickled celery leaves is 1 year.
During the season you can cut celery greens 2-3 times. You need to harvest foliage without defects of a rich green hue. Cut it with shoots at a height of 1-2 cm from the root system. After this, the plant needs to be watered abundantly.
After this, the crop should be spread out in one layer in a dark, well-ventilated room. Drying leaf celery takes 4 weeks. When finished, the plant should be placed in a clothes bag or ceramic container.
You can also preserve the harvest for the winter in pickled form. To do this, fresh celery should be chopped, put in sterilized jars, add 4 bay leaves to each and 1 clove of garlic. After this, prepare a special marinade. To do this, add 100 g of sugar, 150 ml of vinegar and 80 g of salt to 250 ml of water. Fill the jars with herbs to the top with the resulting solution and roll up.
Leaf celery is a valuable garden crop containing a large number of useful components. Therefore, growing it on the plot makes it possible to always have a source of vitamins and minerals at hand.
The health benefits and harms of leaf celery
Chives-celery is rich in vitamins, micro and macroelements, organic acids. All parts of the plant are used for treatment and prevention purposes.
Benefits of the plant for humans:
- Brings blood pressure back to normal.
- Replenishes the lack of nutrients and vitamins in the body. Strengthens the immune system.
- Improves intestinal motility.
- Prevents the occurrence of impotence and infertility.
- Has antioxidant properties. Removes harmful, toxic compounds from the body.
- Normalizes the state of the central nervous system. Reduces the risk of developing depressive, stressful and apathetic conditions.
- It has a strong regenerating effect on burns, wounds, cuts and abrasions.
- Strengthens bone tissue.
- Normalizes blood sugar and bad cholesterol levels.
- Improves brain activity in children.
- Normalizes metabolism, thereby helping a person lose excess weight.
Celery does not replenish vital substances for the body, but for preventive purposes it is not prohibited to use it. Adding the product to food will help you avoid vitamin deficiency in the fall and spring.
The negative or positive effect of leaf celery on the body depends on:
- the presence of chronic pathologies;
- health conditions;
- individual characteristics of a person.
Eating celery in small quantities will not harm the body, unless there are contraindications. The product should not be eaten on an empty stomach, nor should it be used as the main ingredient in a diet.
2 glasses of freshly squeezed juice per day in the absence of other food can lead to gastrointestinal diseases.
Contraindications for use
It is forbidden to introduce celery into the diet of people with kidney stones. It is worth considering that the product promotes the movement of stones. The plant causes harm to people with pathologies such as colitis and enterocolitis.
The plant can cause an epileptic attack.
Use celery with caution when:
- varicose veins;
- flatulence;
- allergies;
- thrombophlebitis;
- bleeding in the uterus.
The leaves affect the taste of breast milk. Therefore, it is not recommended to use during lactation. During pregnancy, eating large amounts of celery is strictly prohibited, as it contains substances that stimulate uterine contractions. As a result, premature birth is possible.
Healthy and tasty recipes
Leaf celery is a flexible plant and goes well with almost everything except sweets. You can sprinkle herbs on any soup or vegetable salad. It is worth considering a few simple recipes using leaf celery that you can prepare every day.
Flatbread with celery
This original Armenian dish is very low in calories due to the presence of herbs and spices as the main ingredients. It can be prepared in 1 hour, preparation time will take 40 minutes.
Ingredients:
- 400 g flour;
- 1 glass of water;
- 120 g celery leaves;
- 120 g cilantro;
- 100 g green onions;
- 100 g garlic feathers;
- 100 g salad;
- 80 g spinach;
- 80 g sorrel;
- 50 g dill;
- 80 g vegetable oil;
- salt, pepper to taste.
Cooking method:
- Mix flour, water, salt, make a thick dough, cover with film and let stand for 30 minutes.
- Cut all the greens or grind them in a blender, add salt and pepper.
- Cut the dough into 6 equal parts, roll out to a thickness of 1 mm.
- Add the herb filling and form into pies.
- Fry the flatbreads in a frying pan until the dough is ready.
The set of greens can also include dandelion leaves, radish and beet tops, and nettles.
Banana salad with apples and celery
This lean, but high-calorie dish can be prepared in 15 minutes. All products remain fresh and cannot be cooked. In the summer, it is a quick snack with a minimum of effort.
Ingredients:
- bananas;
- apples;
- tomatoes;
- celery leaves;
- ground pepper;
- salad;
- mayonnaise.
Cooking method:
- Cut the bananas lengthwise into two parts without damaging the peel (it will serve as a plate).
- Finely chop the lettuce, tomatoes and apples, season with mayonnaise and mix.
- Spread on banana.
The dish is ready.
Summer kvass salad from greens
This dietary Jewish salad has a minimum of calories and a rich set of vitamins - what is needed for those who are on a diet. All ingredients are used fresh and can be added in unlimited quantities. You can both eat and drink the salad.
Ingredients:
- salad;
- celery leaves;
- parsley with dill;
- cucumber;
- apple;
- horseradish leaf, currant and cherry;
- 2 cloves of garlic;
- basil;
- sugar and salt.
Cooking method:
- Chop greens and vegetables not very finely.
- Place everything in a three-liter jar, leaving about half a liter of free space.
- Add salt and sugar 1 teaspoon each.
- Pour warm water and cover with gauze, leave to ferment for a day.
- After the allotted time, drain the kvass separately, discard the inedible leaves, and chop the edible leaves finely.
Serve chilled as hash or as a salad. You can add any greens, for example, cilantro, green onions, spinach.
Diet celery soup
This recipe is included in the set of dishes that promote weight loss. Cooking along with preparing the ingredients will take half an hour. The soup contains products that have cleansing properties, so their combination is useful for people undergoing rehabilitation after surgery.
Ingredients:
- 1 bunch of celery leaves along with the stem;
- 1 medium sized head of white cabbage;
- 5 tomatoes;
- 2 bell peppers;
- 3 onions;
- 1.5 liters of water;
- salt to taste.
Cooking method:
- Chop the celery parts, bell peppers and onions as desired.
- Peel the cabbage, remove the hard part of the cabbage, chop the leaves.
- Peel the tomatoes by dipping them in boiling water for a minute.
- Mix all the vegetables, add salt to taste and cook for 25 minutes over low heat.
Serve the soup hot. You can also make puree soup from it. To do this, you need to cook the vegetables whole, then remove them from the broth, put them through a blender and add broth again.
Important! If you steam celery leaves for no more than 10 minutes, the beneficial properties of the plant are still preserved.
Green smoothie with apple and pineapple
This dietary drink, rich in plant carbohydrates, can wake up the body in the morning and give it strength until lunch. The calorie content per serving is 318 kcal, of which 4 g come from protein, 13 g from fat and 48 g from carbohydrates. You can prepare it in 15 minutes.
Ingredients:
- 2 green apples;
- celery stalk and leaves;
- 1 small cucumber;
- half a pineapple;
- half an avocado;
- 50 g spinach;
- a quarter of a lime;
- 150 g ice.
Cooking method:
- Cut cucumber, apple, celery and avocado into slices.
- Peel the pineapple and lime and cut them too.
- Pass everything through a blender, add ice.
You can add fresh mint, strawberries, raspberries and other watery fruits to the recipe. You can take the drink with you in the morning for a run; it refreshes and tones the body, normalizing water balance.
Rules for growing leaf celery
Leaf celery requires loose, slightly acidic or neutral soil. It takes 2-3 weeks for the seed to grow. It is for this reason that it is recommended to grow the plant as seedlings. In warm climates you can go straight into the ground.
Basic rules for growing celery:
- The seeds need to be treated with a solution of potassium permanganate. The germination process takes place on damp gauze.
- The soil is collected from the following components in a 1 to 1 ratio: sand, leaf soil, peat, humus. After sowing, the seeds must be covered with peat.
- The optimal temperature is 19 degrees, and after germination it drops to 16.
- Leaf celery is planted in March.
- The 2 leaves that appear indicate that you need to pick the plant by pinching the main root.
Seedlings love light and are not afraid of slight frosts. The right time for planting in open ground is the end of April or the beginning of May. For best growth, celery requires constant loosening. Harvesting takes place at the end of July and August.
Diseases and pests
Celery leaves contain a lot of bitterness and essential oils, which is why the crop rarely gets sick and is little damaged by pests. Most problems with the plant occur due to improper care, especially excessive watering without loosening the soil or on dense soils. The growing point of celery is especially sensitive to rot.
Among the diseases of seedlings, blackleg should be highlighted. An adult plant suffers:
- from bacterial leaf spot;
- viral mosaic.
Leaf celery pests:
- carrot flies;
- scoops;
- snails;
- slugs
How to preserve celery leaves?
Most gardeners wonder how to preserve fresh leaf celery so that it does not lose its beneficial properties.
Let's look at the main methods:
- Wash the leaves and dry. Carefully wrap in a paper towel, then place in a plastic bag and refrigerate.
- Freeze whole and finely chopped. Add to dishes without first defrosting.
- Oven drying. Place on a baking sheet and turn on the oven. Dry at 200 degrees, with the door open. Time 20-30 minutes.
Leaf celery is good for the body, but in moderation. Before introducing the product into your diet, you should familiarize yourself with the contraindications. Greens improve health and help diversify your usual menu.
Contraindications
In addition to the beneficial properties of celery leaves, it has its contraindications. People with stomach ulcers and low acidity should not take greens in large quantities. It is also contraindicated in patients with hemochromatosis, in which the level of iron in the body exceeds the norm, and hyperkalemia - an excess of potassium, in which the heart muscle suffers. If you have kidney stones due to the presence of phosphorus in leaf celery, moderation should be used.
The purine contained in celery affects the deposition of uric acid, which is deposited in the joints in the form of salts. Therefore, people with gouty arthritis are not recommended to consume celery leaves. This also applies to those who are severely obese. For these people, it is necessary to eat foods that promote the removal of fluids rather than the accumulation that purine does.