Celery - why waste the calories? - The Jewish Chronicle

Celery is in season here in the UK next month.

I've never understood the pale, green sticks.

I do buy it every so often - mostly to use in a chicken soup or soffrito — the cornerstone for many Italian dishes, when finely diced and combined with finely diced onion and carrot. Any remaining stalks wither in my fridge for a fortnight, before their final destination — the compost heap.

Be honest, who really likes it? Would you really choose to crunch on one of those stringy stalks?

The only reason I can see to eat it is (a) if you are dieting, and even then, cucumber wins hands down for me as a low-cal veg of choice; and (b) if it is smothered with something tasty, like blue cheese or hummus.

I really want to like it - as well as being low cal, it also contains a bunch of nutrients: riboflavin, vitamin B6, pantothenic acid, calcium, magnesium and phosphorus, and it's a good source of dietary fibre as well as vitamins A, C, K, folate, potassium and manganese.

But it tastes BAD! So, until they develop a type of celery that tastes good, it's off my menu — at least in its raw form.

In the interests of the environment (and to vary my compost bin's diet) i'm trying to reduce my celery waste.

Mostly, that means not buying it, but occasionally I feel the need — it does add a flavour layer in a sauce or soup, so here are a few ways you may want to using it up:

Soffritto - for a big batch of tomato sauce, bolognese or a batch of soup;
Celery soup - somehow easier on the palate when sauteed and whizzed up with cream and seasoning;
Throw a couple of stalks into your chicken soup or stock;
Chop it up into a Waldorf salad - paired with walnuts and crunchy apples and coated in mayonnaise it's well disguised; or
Slice it very finely and serve in a salad with crumbled, creamy, blue cheese and toasted hazelnuts with a lemony dressing.