In defence of celery ...

[Beef Oven!]

Essential in many stir fries, which we do often, so we always have it in the house. I bought a magnificent locally produced (Wilts) specimen at the market this week. It's in bucket of water to keep fresh. My mother use to put it on the table at Sunday tea in the fifties.

I think it ruins stir-fry food. What am I missing, or doing wrong?

[gurnemanz]

Chacun a son gout (there should be some accents in there)

[EdgeleyRob]

A man goes to see his doctor.

He has a banana stuck in one of his ears, a celery stick in the other ear, and a carrot stuck in one nostril.

The man says, "Doctor, this is terrible. What's wrong with me?"

The doctor says, "Well, first of all, you need to eat more sensibly."

[cloughie]

Celery in many dishes that start off by softening onions adding a stick of celery finely chopped adds to the flavour. Great in stocks and stews. Also the leaves are a great herb.

[Beef Oven!]

Chacun a son gout (there should be some accents in there)

Well put the accents in, or some gentleman's sausage will tell you off!

[Ferretfancy]

There's a wonderful celery moment in All About Eve, the scene in the restaurant where Margot Channing ( Bette Davis ) picks up a piece of celery and gives it a defiant chomp aimed at her rival! Lovely stuff.
Silent close up of a caterpillar eating a leaf, how do they record the sound? Easy, send an assistant into the studio and ask him or her to chew on a stick of celery nice and close to the mike.
Cabbages are useful for beheadings.

[Nick Armstrong]

At the risk of being ethnically cleansed, I admit freely that cant stand the stuff and never eat it. If I cooked a recipe that required it, I'd just leave it out

Celery is the Liszt of the vegetable world.

[amateur51]

Celery is the Liszt of the vegetable world.

[cloughie]

Celery is the Liszt of the vegetable world.

In which case Chopin must be broad beans.

[french frank]

I love celery. Moreover, I think it's a beautiful word. It would make a good name - how about Celery Chambers?

Could be Caliban's workplace! Do you think he'd refuse to work there?

[Anna]

I always used to wonder why packaging had to declare if celery were an ingredient - it appears it can cause a very nasty allergic reaction. Interestingly those affected are people who suffer a hayfever reaction to birch and mugwort (artemesia) pollen. It seems celery allergy is more common in France, Germany and Switzerland rather than the UK and rather startling in the fact that 40% of the Swiss who have food allergies also test positive for celery.
The things one learns!

[amateur51]

Could be Caliban's workplace! Do you think he'd refuse to work there?

[gurnemanz]

For my wife, who is German, celery means "Sellerie" which is a root crop and looks like this - not keen on it myself

[amateur51]

For my wife, who is German, celery means "Sellerie" which is a root crop looks like this - not keen on it myself

The root ball looks like what I'd call celeriac, gurney. not seen it with shoots.

If it is celeriac it's nice diced, boiled , drained and then mashed with boiled potatoes; good in a stew/soup where you'd use celery; and grated it's lovely mixed into some garlicy/mustardy/lemony/horsesradishy/capery mayonnaise, known as rémoulade

[french frank]

If it is celeriac it's nice diced, boiled , drained and then mashed with boiled potatoes; good in a stew/soup where you'd use celery; and grated it's lovely mixed into some garlicy/mustardy/lemony/horsesradishy/capery mayonnaise, known as rémoulade

Also grated and added to salads and rösti.

When I'm feeling wealthy, I cut the bottom off the celery, discard most of the outside bits and just use the tender inside stalks for eating raw, dipped in sea salt. The discarded bits are chopped and added to stock (and ultimately thrown away), or added directly to the compost bin. The less wealthy I feel, the less is discarded.