Love Your Veggies
Celery
Whether diced in tuna salad or dipped in Ranch, celery is already a favorite with kids. But there’s a lot more to this crunchy crudité.
Stick with Celery
Kids love crunchy stuff, so it’s no surprise that cool, crisp celery is a childhood favorite. The rounded shape also makes it the perfect scoop for Ranch dressing or peanut butter — toppings that also score high with pint-sized eaters.
Bunches of Benefits
But what your kids may not realize is that these mild-flavored stalks are full of nutrients. They’re high in dietary fiber, vitamin K, potassium and phthalides, which have been shown to lower cholesterol, and offer moderate amounts of vitamins A, B9 and C. With no fat or cholesterol, and a high water content, you can let your little ones enjoy to their heart's delight.
In America, each person eats about 7 pounds of celery a year, but those numbers are declining with those under 20. That’s why Ranch is here to help — let’s get our kids crunching!
Growing Celery: Stalking a challenge
Celery is a hardy plant that keeps well in the fridge, but can be tough to grow in your backyard. Our tips will help you raise the best stalks.
- Start with seedlings indoors. Seeds are hard to grow and harder to find. Seedlings, also called transplants, give you quicker growth and better luck.
- Place seedlings in a sunny spot. Kitchen windowsills are a popular choice for indoor pots.
- Transplant after last frost. Once you're sure the cold snaps are over, you can plant your seedlings in the garden.
- Plant in rich soil. Add fertilizer to your soil before you plant and then add regularly throughout the growing season.
- Pick a spot with full sun. Once they’re past the seedling stage, they’ll need even more sun — make sure you transplant them to a place in your garden that gets at least 6 hours of sunlight a day.
- Give them plenty of space. In each row, plant the seedlings about a foot apart. The rows themselves should be about two and a half feet apart.
- Water, water, water. Celery stalks are mostly water, so it stands to reason that they’d need lots of watering. Every morning is best, but in hot, dry weather, also give them a drink in the afternoon.
- Harvest foot-long stalks. Once they’re about as long as your forearm, they’re ready to pick and eat!
Pick, Store & Prep Celery
As veggies go, celery is pretty low maintenance. But they still need care, so here are a few tips to keep them crisp.
Pick
- Compact is better. Tightly closed bunches are an indication of freshness.
- Go green. Stalks and leaves should be light green with no yellow or brown patches.
- Look for leaves. Celery leaves are not only pretty, they're delicious and contain more vitamin C, calcium and potassium than the stalks.
- Buy organic, if you can. Conventionally grown celery is prone to pesticide residue, so try to find the organic variety. (And if your grocer doesn't carry it, ask them to start!) Bonus: it also has a more intense flavor.
Store
- Store wrapped. Keep whole bunches or stalks in a damp cloth or plastic bag in the crisper drawer of your refrigerator. Whole, uncut stalks will stay crisp for a week to 10 days, making it a great value veggie.
- Use the leaves quickly. While the leaves are wonderful addition to any celery dish, they don't last as long as the stalks, so try to eat them the day of purchase.
- Store cold, but not freezing. Due to its high water content, celery does not freeze well.
Prep
- Rinse well. Dirt can lodge in between the ribs, so pull them apart and rinse separately.
- Cut right before use. Storing cut celery will drain it of its color and crispness.
- Don’t bother to peel. Celery does not need to be peeled, unless it's a particularly large, tough stalk.
- Try Ants on a Log. Fill a stalk with peanut butter and top with raisins for a healthy snack no kid will pass up.
- Dunk in your favorite Ranch. Kid-sized celery sticks are perfect for dipping in a wide variety of Ranch flavors.
Celery Recipes
Help your kids branch out from celery sticks with these tasty treats.
-
Summer Tuna Salad
This lunchtime staple become special with crunchy celery and creamy Ranch.
-
Cool Ranch Coleslaw
Roasted red peppers add smoky sweetness to this picnic standard.
-
Ranch Buffalo Wings
Our version of this American classic gets a double dose of Ranch with a side of celery.
Test Your Celery Knowledge
- 1. Celery is a member of which plant family
- A) Mustard
- B) Parsley
- C) Grass
- D) Lily
The Answer is B
Look closely: The leaves even look a bit like flat-leaf parsley!
- 2. Celery made its American debut in:
- A) Santa Maria, CA
- B) Atlanta
- C) Kalamazoo, MI
- D) Chicago
The Answer is C
It was all thanks to a celery-loving Scotsman, who imported the seeds from England in 1856.
- 3. Historically, celery was used as a relaxant.
- A) True
- B) False
The Answer is A
In fact, in the late 1800s, celery nerve tonics were sold everywhere — including the Sears catalog. Today, Dr. Brown’s Cel-Ray Soda, made from crushed celery seeds, can still be found in good delis, but this is usually to enhance the flavor of a good pastrami sandwich.
- 4. Winning athletes in ancient Greece were awarded with:
- A) Celery leaf garlands
- B) A nice Waldorf salad
- C) A bouquet of celery stalks
- D) A packet of celery seeds
The Answer is C
This is not unlike the bouquets of flowers given to current-day Olympic athletes.
- 5. Celery is a negative calorie food.
- A) True
- B) False
- C) Is this a trick question?
The Answer is C
Although it’s been said that the energy spent in digesting a stalk of celery exceeds the calories it contains (about 6), the label “negative-calorie” is a bit misleading. After all, if 3,500 calories must be burnt to shed a single pound, imagine how much celery you'd have to eat! (And how unlikely that would be.)
Your Score
You answered 0 correctly!
