How to Store Celery and Get Great Health Benefits?
- Isabel Fernandez
Most common question asked by nutritious and healthy eaters is that, can I keep my celery fresh in my refrigerator for multiple days without spoiling them? The answer is yes, you can, but you need to prepare them in some specific manners. You need to protect them from various bacteria’s and moisture that hasten the rotting in vegetables, to keep them fresh for days. You know that without storing those into fridge can’t have them fresh next time. However, storing in the refrigerator couldn’t prevent them from becoming limp and mushy, because you have no idea how to store celery. You should understand the facts about celery in detail. Thus, it will help you to learn the storing process of celery easily. After learning about celery, will show you the process of “how to store celery” step by step.
Celery is marshland plant, though people put celery into their eating habit as a vegetable since the olden days. Its fibrous stalk tapering leaves make it more delicious to eat. In a different culture, people eat different parts of the celery. Stalks, leaves, and hypocotyl, everything is eatable from the celery. The seed of the celery is used as a spice and in various herbal medicines. Health benefits of celery seeds are countless. But the problem is, this vegetable is also vulnerable to bacteria’s and moisture, same as lettuce and tomatoes.
Celery is a sweetheart of the kitchen, but using the whole bunch in one session is quite rare. Only one or two ribs cover the maximum menus. Therefore, the rest of them need to be stored in a safe and cold place. To keep the crisp and freshness of the celery, here are some best ways to store them.
How to Store Celery?
There are three different but effective way to store celery in the refrigerator. The methods are
- Submerge or Water Stored Celery
- Wrapping the Celery
- Freezing the Celery or Blanching
Submerge or Water Stored Celery
Materials
You don’t need too many materials to complete this storing process. You will need the following items.
- A glass bowl or a plastic container
- A plastic wrapper if the plastic container is not sealed
- Supply of fresh water (filtered water will be best)
- Kitchen knife
- Fresh celery
Procedure
First, if you want to keep the celery fresh, you should remove the stalks from the celery and slice off the base from the stalks. Using a kitchen knife will be very useful. Work with caution while working with any cutting instrument. Slice the stalks in half and place them into the glass bowl or the sealed plastic container. Don’t forget to leave an inch of space between the celery pieces and the bowl’s sealing.
Secondly, fill the bowl with fresh and filtered water and seal the container. If you don’t have the seal, you can seal the top with plastic wrap and put it into the fridge. If you follow the instructions, it will be easy for you to store celery for long-term use.
This is the simple way to store celery, though there is a hitch. You have to change the fresh water of the bowl or the container every day or every other day; moreover, every time you take some celery from the bowl, you should change the sealing to maintain the freshness. You can use this same method using a glass or jar, but it will last less long than the above procedure.
Wrapping the Celery
Materials: The equipment that will help you to get the best results in this procedure is
Procedure
Aluminum foil can be found in most of the modern kitchens. If you store celery with this method, you can have your celery fresh for weeks. Make the celery dry with the help of a paper towel. It will consume all the wetness and a unique hormone called ethylene from the celery, which is the impactor hormone that helps to ripe the celery. Therefore, the discharge of the hormone from the celery helps to keep it fresh. Now, wrap the celery with aluminum foil intact or sliced and place it into the crisper drawer of the refrigerator. You can re-use the foil paper for several uses.
You can also use other wraps like a paper towel, to do the storing. Wrap it with a damp paper towel and put it into a zip lock plastic bag then keep the celery in the refrigerator. Never throw the top and the bottom part of the celery; you can make celery stock from those. The bottom portion is also reusable if you put them into the soil. Maybe, you can get new celery plant.
Freezing the Celery or Blanching
Materials
- Glass bowl
- Freezer bag
- Kitchen knife
- Cookie sheet
Procedure
In this way of storing celery, you need to wash the celery and remove the soil from the vegetable and cut off the base then cut off the leaves. After that plunge the celery into boiling water and leave it there for three minutes. Chill the celery quickly into a bowl of ice water. Now, put all the celery on the cookie sheet and put the sheet into the freezer. When the celery is frozen cut them into slices that are 1 and 1 ½ inches long and put them into a freezer bag. Put the freezer bag into the refrigerator again. The freezing does not keep the celery fresh; it’s the blanching process that follows the fresh vegetable months after months without a change.
If you froze food in zero-degree Fahrenheit, it would last more than 12 to 19 months but in the case of celery it only last one week, because it has lots of water in it. That’s why celery juice is very healthy as a diet. A Persian king first starts the harvest of celery in his land seeing the medicinal value of it. A Single celery stalk contains 90% of water and 10% of minerals. These ways are best for storing celery at home without demining its quality. Choose any of them today and get the results instantly. Hope this post helps you to store your favorite crunchy vegetable.
