How to store celery - mom's advisor

Storage methods for the winter at home

There are many recipes for storing celery - at cool temperatures in their natural form, in the form of freezing, drying or salting. When choosing how to store a healthy vegetable, housewives are guided by the presence or absence of a dry cellar and freezer. The vegetable is also kept fresh using a refrigerator or dry cellar.

Video: freezing and drying celery for the winter

Salting is also used, in which the aerial part or root crop is crushed with a blender (passed through a meat grinder) and mixed with salt. When salting, for every 500 g of a vegetable, take 100 grams of salt. The best harvesting methods are drying or freezing, since vegetables harvested in this way are stored for a long time and do not lose their aroma.

One of the common types of harvesting celery for future use is drying:

The root crop is washed well with a stiff brush and peeled off.
The pulp can be cut in different ways, but more often it is crushed into strips.
The leafy part of the plant, after washing in several waters, is spread in a thin layer on paper or on a linen tea towel.
Half an hour later, after removing the remaining water, the greens are crushed and transferred to dry paper for subsequent drying.
Drying area should be dark and cool.
The drying process ends in 35–40 days, depending on the ambient temperature.

Video: how to dry celery

Also, the vegetable can be dried in the oven. For this, herbs or thinly chopped roots are laid out on a baking sheet covered with parchment. After the baking sheet has been placed in the oven, leave the oven door slightly ajar. For the first three hours in the oven, drying is kept at a temperature of + 40 ° C, after which the temperature regulator is turned to + 50 ° C.

The temperature switch remains in this position until the contents of the baking sheet are well dried. A well-prepared dryer emits a slight rustling sound when poured. The finished product is poured into dry glass containers with a tight-fitting lid. You can also store dry herbs or roots in heavy paper bags.

Freezing celery

To freeze a vegetable for subsequent storage, do the following:

The root or petiole variety is washed under running water and dried so that no water drops remain on the surface.
The peeled root crop is cut into thin, short strips or plates of suitable size, thick petioles are cut into small pieces (2–5 cm), the leaves are chopped with a knife as small as possible.
Chopped celery is placed in dry food containers with lids. You can also use special bags equipped with a zipper fastener to store vegetables and root vegetables in the freezer. Some housewives use dry plastic bottles of mineral water with a volume of 0.5-1 liters to store frozen greens.

Video: freezing celery

It is recommended to store herbs, stalks and frozen celery roots in separate containers. On top of the container in which the freezer is stored, a label is attached with adhesive tape, which indicates the name of the contents of the container and the date it was placed in the freezer.

Salting and pickling

In addition to drying and freezing, you can save celery leaves or stalks for the winter by salting. It will not lose its properties for a long time, and in winter you can add it to many dishes.

The process of salting celery is as simple as the other operations:

Prepare a three-liter jar or container that you can seal tightly. For 1 kg of celery, take 200-250 g of salt.
Before salting, wash the leaves or stalks of the vegetable, remove all yellowed parts, and finely chop.
Toss the herbs and salt in a large bowl, then place them tightly in the prepared container, leaving room for the juice.

Close the salted container well to restrict air access. If you use a nylon lid, keep the jar in the refrigerator. If you decide to roll it up under a tin can, you can store it in the pantry or in the cellar.

Salting is used less often than freezing or drying. In addition, when using celery in the future, it must be borne in mind that it is already salty. This means that you need to add salt to dishes much less.

Features of harvesting root celery

Vegetable storage begins with proper harvesting. This process usually lasts from mid-summer to early fall. The plant should not have time to bloom. Otherwise, it will use its juice for the formation of seeds and because of this it will lose its taste. Cut off the leaves, leaving short stalks. Whether you are harvesting yourself or buying from the market, keep an eye on the quality of your roots.

A good root celery has the following characteristics:

a surface without nodules and protruding tubercles;
when pressed, the root crop is dense and hard, softness indicates rot;
when tapping, the sound should be dull, the sonorous one speaks of cavities inside the fetus.

For short-term storage, you can place celery on the vegetable shelf of the refrigerator:

be sure to wash the surface of the root crop;
remove dirt and damaged parts;
wipe dry;
put in a plastic bag.

Attention! Under such conditions, celery can be stored painlessly for up to 2 weeks, retaining its taste and aroma.

Storage and processing methods

There are several ways to store and process stalked celery for the winter. Each of them has its own pros and cons.

In a cold cellar, the vegetable lies without loss of appearance and nutrients, but not for long - up to 2 months.
The advantage of the refrigerator is the ability to store trimmed petioles, ready to eat, but the period is even shorter (2-3 weeks).
Frozen celery lasts up to a year, but you can't make a fresh salad from it, you can't squeeze out the juice.
Dried petioles have an even longer shelf life. They retain a lot of useful substances, but are suitable only as an aromatic additive to dishes.

The zealous housewives use different options for storing and processing stalked celery and provide the family with healthy vegetables for the whole winter.

In fridge

A vegetable purchased or picked up from the cellar for current consumption is stored in the refrigerator. The task at the same time is that the stems retain their elasticity and juiciness, but do not begin to rot. Before putting them in the refrigerator, they are washed, dried, then one of the packaging options is used:

wrapped in foil;
wrap the bundle with a paper towel and put in a plastic bag;
dry product can be wrapped with cling film.

Before consumption, the dried edges are cut off the petioles, otherwise they retain their original quality.

Cellar

As practice shows, it is best to store the grown crop of stalked celery in a cellar.

Before being dug into the basement, the foliage is cut off from the dug plant, and a small piece of rhizome (2-3 cm) is left at the bottom. The sockets are placed vertically in a box, half covered with sand. Alternatively, individual specimens with roots can be dug into wet sand (peat). Instead of a basement, an unheated balcony, a cold veranda, a glazed loggia will do, but only if the air temperature there does not drop to 0⁰ C.

Freezing options for petioles

A popular storage method is to freeze stalked celery for the winter. Despite the abundance of recipes, the fundamental difference is one - whether to subject the vegetable to heat treatment before freezing or not.

The first option is freezing and blanching the product.The scheme is similar to harvesting Brussels sprouts, step by step it looks like this.

The petioles are washed, tough fibers (streaks) are removed, and cut into small pieces.
The crushed mass is immersed in boiling water for 2-3 minutes.
Take out with a slotted spoon in a bowl of cold water or pieces of ice - for quick cooling.
Before freezing stalked celery, it is laid out in one layer on a cloth napkin, after excess moisture has drained off, on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper.
They are sent to the freezer.
After freezing, they are transferred to an airtight bag.

The chopped stems can not be blanched, but immediately placed in bags or pans, and then frozen. But in this case, the shelf life of the workpiece is reduced to 2-3 months.

Drying and cooking seasoning

A time-tested method of storing spices is drying stalked celery. The selected stems are washed under running water, carefully removing sand, pieces of soil, and soaked with a cloth. Whole or cut into large pieces, lay out on a clean sheet of parchment paper, cover with another layer of paper on top and leave at room temperature until completely dry. Taking into account the juiciness of the stems, this will take about a month. Dried petioles are stored in glassware, crushed as needed. You can immediately grind them in a mortar, grind them in a blender or twist them through a meat grinder, use them as a seasoning.

To speed up the process, stalked celery is dried in an oven or electric dryer. The principle is the same - large pieces (2–3 cm) are placed on a wire rack, kept at a temperature of 50–60⁰ С. When dealing with the oven, do not forget to keep the door ajar so that air circulates and the product dries rather than baked.

Salting

Our grandmothers used salt to store stalked celery. The stalks, cut into pieces, were placed in glass jars and generously sprinkled with salt. For 1 kg of petioles, it takes about 200 g. This preparation is used to flavor the first and meat dishes, add to hot sauces.

Cleaning and storage of stalked celery:

Features of storing root celery

With proper storage of celery roots, they retain their taste and marketability for 3-6 months. The period largely depends on the variety. For harvesting for the winter, choose mid-ripening or late-ripening species with large root crops. It is desirable that they are not prone to the formation of lateral roots, the tubers have a smooth bark. And of course, they did not crack or form internal voids during the growth process. Here are a few varieties of Root Celery that are good for winter storage:

Egor. A mid-season variety of root celery, the biological maturity of which occurs within 160-170 days. The variety is suitable for growing throughout Russia. Root crops weighing about 450 grams are covered with an even bark of light gray color. The pulp is white, without voids and streaks, with a spicy taste.
Albin. It is this type of root celery, according to breeders, that can be stored for up to six months. Even though it forms a small number of thin lateral roots on the underside of the tuber. It grows to a diameter of 15 cm and a mass of 500-600 grams. The pulp is very dense, whitish-creamy on the cut, has a bright taste and aroma. The variety also belongs to the mid-season and even in the climatic conditions of Siberia will have time to ripen before the onset of cold weather.
Root celery President is considered one of the best varieties for laying in the winter. Large rounded fruits with smooth grayish bark and firm snow-white flesh. Due to the unpretentiousness and drought resistance of the variety, root crops are not susceptible to cracks and voids. The average weight of tubers is 400-600 grams.

Root celery Royal Night is one of the modern species. It forms round-oval tubers. With proper care, their weight can reach 1 kg.But fruits weighing 600-800 grams are more common. The bark is lumpy, slightly rough, but without lateral roots. Has a light green tint. The pulp is creamy, juicy, aromatic, piquant in taste. Ripens within 150-160 days from the moment the first shoots appear.
Anita belongs to the late varieties. Its ripening lasts up to 200 days. However, the root crops of the variety are frost-resistant, and lowering the temperature to 4 degrees with a minus sign will not affect the storage period. Tubers with a beige bark and white pulp are stored for up to 5-6 months. Differs in large-fruited, high marketability and taste. This type of celery is often used for industrial production.

For growing and storing root celery in the middle lane, both mid-season and late varieties are suitable. They will have time to ripen before the cold weather begins. In regions with colder climates, it is worth giving preference to species that mature in 5-6 months.

Otherwise, storing celery root is not much different from storing other root crops. For bookmarking for the winter, healthy tubers are selected, without external damage and signs of disease.

Store it in a cool place at an air temperature of 1-4 degrees Celsius. It is desirable to maintain the humidity level within 95%. In a dry room, celery quickly loses moisture, withers, and becomes flabby. At a higher moisture content in the air, rotting processes begin. Some of the tricks that will help keep the harvest almost until spring will be discussed in the article.

Features of storage at home

Fresh, the plant is stored in a cellar, in a box with sand. The shelf life is 2-3 months. Another option is in the refrigerator, in the vegetable compartment, wrapped in plastic wrap. So the plant retains its freshness for up to one month.

The frozen product is stored in the freezer, the shelf life is 10-12 months. The optimum storage temperature is -18 ° C. For storage, use plastic bags or plastic containers.

The dried product is stored in glass jars or paper bags in a dry, dark place. Shelf life is 1 year.

Jars of salted and pickled celery are kept in the refrigerator for two months.

The canned product is stored in cellars, basements, pantries. The maximum shelf life is 2 years.

To freeze celery, you need to prepare special hermetically sealed bags or plastic containers. Ordinary pouches can be used, but in this case it is difficult to avoid getting air inside.

Further actions are performed in several stages:

Separate the leaves from the stems, rinse thoroughly and place on a dry napkin. To speed up the drying process, you can also blot the top with a dry towel.
Chop the leaves not too finely so they don't turn into mush. They should be the same size as for a regular summer salad.
Divide the slices into bags or containers and place in the freezer.

Make sure that the greens are completely dry, otherwise, when frozen, the moisture will turn into ice, and the leaves will stick together into one mass

It is important that the freezer bag or plastic container is tightly closed as celery has a strong odor

It is better to immediately pack the blanks into small bags, so that you can then use one of them at a time. It will be more difficult to separate the frozen product with a whole briquette.

You can also freeze celery for the winter:

In the form of a smoothie, grind the cuttings and leaves with a food processor or blender and put them in small containers. This preparation will be an excellent addition to puree soup.
In an ice mold, pouring water over the chopped greens. Get Vitamin Cubes that are easy to use in soups and gravies.

For a longer saving of root crops, a cellar is usually used. There are several options. All of them will help keep celery until spring:

Place the fruit in a plastic bag. Cover with dry sand and store at a temperature not exceeding 1 ° C. The optimum humidity is about 90%.
Fill a cardboard box or wooden box with dry sand. Stick the roots into it in an upright position, leaving the leaf stalks above the surface. Store containers in a cool, dark place.
Knead the clay in water until creamy. Spread a thin layer of the mixture over the celery. Dry and place in a cool dry place.
Lay the root vegetables in several layers directly in the cellar on a dry mat. Each layer should be sprinkled with sand with an admixture of chalk, which will protect against fungal infections.

You can freeze root celery in the freezer. To do this, cut the roots, and then grate them on a coarse grater. It is convenient to pack the resulting semi-finished product in sealed bags in portions and use the vegetable crop as needed.

You can dry root vegetables:

peel them;
cut into strips;
dry in the sun or in the oven;
put in a glass container with a tight-fitting lid.

Harvesting and selection of greens

Celery harvesting should be done from July to September, when the plant has already accumulated a sufficient amount of vitamins and minerals, but has not yet begun to bloom. After the appearance of the seed arrow, the greens acquire a bitter aftertaste.

Before storing celery in winter, about a month before digging it out of the soil, the green part is cut off, leaving 2 - 3 cm of tops above the ground

It is important to collect the rhizomes from the garden before the onset of frost. And when they are already dug out of the ground (they do it in dry weather), they are left for some time in the same place, in the garden

This is done so that the roots dry out a little and weathered, while a dense protective crust forms on their surface.

Drying celery should be done with good ventilation.

If you have to buy root crops on the market, pay attention to their appearance. The surface of the vegetable should be smooth, without build-ups and cracks.

If, when tapped, the sound is voiced, this is an indicator of the presence of voids inside.

The structure of the root crop must be firm and elastic. If, when pressed on its top, a soft and slippery consistency is felt, the inside of the fruit has begun to rot.

If you need the green part of celery, look at its condition. Stems and leaves should have a bright color and juicy structure, without signs of drying out and decay. In supermarkets, greens (celery stalks) are usually packaged in bunches in transparent bags. Therefore, when buying them, you can consider them well. On the market, they choose juicy petioles without a seed arrow, a bright green color.

Useful and harmful properties

Fresh stems contain a lot of nutrients, so this product has a beneficial effect on the human body. The plant has a rich composition - its leaves contain vitamins A, B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, C, E, K, valuable amino acids, essential oils and trace elements, as well as fiber.

Celery has the following beneficial properties:
slows down the aging process in the body;
relieves overwork and helps fight stress;
improves digestion;
contributes to the normalization of water-salt metabolism;
eliminates headache;
lowers blood sugar levels in diabetics;
has a beneficial effect on the work of the heart;
reduces joint pain and edema;
increases the general tone of the body;
promotes wound healing;
stimulates the brain;
removes toxins from the body, cleanses the blood;
strengthens the immune system;
helps to cope with diseases of the genitourinary system;
enhances libido;
helps to effectively fight excess weight.

Despite the long list of beneficial properties, when using the plant, you must comply with the norm, since in large quantities it can be harmful to the body.

This product is contraindicated in such cases:
hypotension - the leaves and root of the plant lower the level of blood pressure, which causes a deterioration in well-being;
the presence of allergies - the stem contains substances that can cause an allergic rash;
acute diseases of the digestive system (ulcer, gastritis) - stimulating the production of gastric juice, the product increases pain in the stomach and intestines;
the last trimester of pregnancy - the stems of the plant can cause food allergies in the baby;
uterine bleeding - the product stimulates blood circulation, so it can aggravate the situation;
women during lactation - the constituent elements of celery pass into breast milk, change its taste and smell, and can also cause allergies in the child;
urolithiasis - the product has a strong diuretic effect on the body, which can provoke the movement of large stones.

Important! The daily intake of celery for a healthy adult is 160-200 g

Storage methods

Root celery can be stored throughout the winter in the basement. The root crop will not lose its dense structure and useful qualities if kept in slightly moistened sand. Vegetables are placed in boxes so that the trimmed part of their tops is visible on the surface. Or they are simply laid out in bags or boxes, after which they are sprinkled with moistened sand.

Another common type of storage is in clay. Each root vegetable is dipped in clay diluted to a creamy consistency. Then they are dried and laid out in stacks on the shelves of the cellar.
You can store celery root vegetables in the form of a slide. They are laid so that the trimmed parts of the tops are visible from the outside. Each layer of vegetables is sprinkled with a mixture of sand and chalk. This is a pretty strong prophylaxis against mold formation.
In warm climates, where winter freezing of the soil is negligible, you can store root celery in trenches. It is also sprinkled with moistened sand, and on top is insulated with a layer of straw, on which soil is poured.
For a short period (5 - 7 days) storage of celery rhizomes can take place in the refrigerator. But first, they must be wrapped in foil.

Before storing stalked celery in winter, the plant is removed from the soil along with the rhizome, which is in a coma of earth, and then placed in moistened sand. In the basement for a long time, you can save not only the petioles, but also the leafy part of this vegetable.

The shelf life of celery in the form of stalks and herbs in the refrigerator is 1 week. At the same time, they are wrapped in foil, which will prevent rapid drying out.
You can store celery in a polyethylene bag for several days, and for longer storage it is better to use pickling or drying.
Leafy celery at room temperature can "hold out" for up to a week in a jar of water. But it will need to be replaced daily with a fresh one, and the cuts of the ends of the stems will need to be updated.

Cleaning and storage secrets

When asked when to harvest root celery, amateur gardeners usually answer differently. Moreover, each of them will be right, and this is not surprising: the exact ripening time of the root crop depends on the specific region, as well as on the planting time. In central Russia, this is most often mid-autumn. As for the celery planted for greenery, it is harvested before the plant blooms.

You need to dig up the root only in dry, warm weather so that the fruits do not get wet in the rain. From the last rain to harvesting, a minimum of three days must pass for the soil to dry completely. Cleaning takes place as follows:

The gardener takes a sharp shovel and carefully digs in each bush in the garden
Attention: the digging is done only from the side, but in no case in the garden itself, otherwise all the collected fruits will be cut with a shovel.
Then, pressing a little on the shovel, the gardener also comes in from the side and carefully removes each bush in turn from the ground.
The soil and adhering debris are shaken off from root crops.
The fruits are inspected for rot and pest damage.
If celery is even slightly affected by rot, it is immediately burned so as not to spread the fungus throughout the garden. Even if rot is only a small speck, in no case should such fruits be put into a common pile intended for long-term storage.
For root vegetables that are very slightly "spoiled", you can simply cut off the spoiled areas and set them aside for immediate conservation or consumption, without long-term storage.
If the fruits are intended for sale, the roots and thick "hairs" on them are immediately cut off.

This is done in order to give the tubers a presentation. If you plan to put the celery away for storage, you should not rush into such pruning, it can be done immediately before eating a particular root vegetable. It should be borne in mind that celery with uncut roots is stored much longer (the same goes for onions, garlic, beets, carrots and other vegetables growing in the ground).
Next, the roots are dried on parchment or spread newspaper, folded in several layers. Then they go to the basement, in wooden boxes.

Storage of celery for the winter is best organized according to the following scheme. Periodically, the vegetable must be inspected for damage and removed tubers that show signs of rot or mold. This must be done promptly, since one tuber affected by the fungus can instantly infect all the others.

What you need to grow celery

To grow celery on a windowsill you will need:

The seeds or roots of the plant;
Planting pots. Their diameter should not be large: for example, if celery is grown from a stalk, then the pot is slightly wider than the basket of the plant;
Earthen substrate.

Useful information

Daria Vorontsova

An amateur gardener. He is fond of growing various greens at home.

In the future, you will need top dressing (biohumus, agrolife). You need to feed the plant every 2-3 weeks. If you follow this rule, then root celery will delight with a harvest of 3-4 months, and seed - more than a year.

Choosing the best place in the house

The best place in an apartment for growing a plant is a bright one. That is why containers of celery should be placed on the windowsill. In the evening, the pots should be moved to a lighted place, thereby extending the daylight hours for the culture.

Selection and preparation of containers

To grow celery at home, you first need to pick up a container.

For seedlings, boxes or plastic boxes with holes are best suited through which excess water will be drained. This option is optimal for growing on the balcony. Here it can be grown only in the warm season.

If celery is grown on a windowsill, use deep pots.

Before planting seeds or a stem, the container must be treated with a solution of potassium permanganate (0.1%).

Soil selection

The soil mixture for planting celery must be prepared in advance. It should have the following composition:

Garden land or peat (70%);
Humus (20-25%);
Sod land (5-10%).

Useful information

Daria Vorontsova

An amateur gardener. He is fond of growing various greens at home.

The soil should be loose, light. Another option for the composition of the soil is a part of vermicompost for 2 parts of coconut fiber.

For 1 kg of soil mixture add 10 g of lime and about 30 g of phosphorus fertilizers.

At the bottom of the container, a drainage layer is first laid. It can consist of gravel, broken bricks or shards. After that, a layer of dry sand is poured and only then - the soil. From above it is well moistened with water.

Preparing seeds for planting

Since celery seeds take a long time to germinate, they need to be prepared before planting.

They are recommended to be wrapped in damp gauze and kept for 5-7 days, then put in the refrigerator, in the department for fruits and vegetables, for the same period.

Creation of the necessary conditions

Important conditions that ensure the full development of celery in the home are:

Temperature. Before the seedlings of the plant appear, the temperature regime should be within + 25-26 ° С. After their appearance, the temperature indicators must be reduced to + 16 ° C. When buds and leaves appear, the temperature should be + 18-20 ° С;

Lighting. Celery needs a lot of light, therefore, in the daytime, pots or boxes with a plant should be left on the window, and with the onset of dusk, the containers should be removed to places illuminated by artificial light;
Air humidity. The plant needs enough moisture, therefore, if the air in the room is too dry, it is recommended to place containers filled with water next to the containers.

If the right conditions are not created, the plant will not develop. If you forget about caring for the celery after the leaves appear, they will quickly fade, and the bushes will deteriorate.

How can rhizomes be stored?

A green vegetable crop can be grown in the garden or in the country. The rules for winter storage at home are simple, celery is harvested in different forms. Frozen or dried herbs are added for a special flavor to the soup, frozen rhizomes are grated and seasoned with various dishes, pickled tomatoes with celery are obtained as spicy. The culture can be eaten by itself.

The storage of fresh petioles, leaves and roots of the plant is quite long. The products can be used in salads and as a bright decoration for any ready-made meal.

Harvesting involves cutting the leaves, leaving small stalks. Suitable months are July and August. Purchased raw materials must be checked for the smoothness of the skin, on which there should be no irregularities and knots, otherwise the product will be inconvenient to clean. Leaves and stems should not be yellowed and spotted.

Tip: If you knock on the root, and the tone of the sound will be ringing, it means that there are voids inside. You can check the root crop so that it is not rotten by pressing on the top of the root. Softness and slipperiness indicate a poor-quality product.

If the rhizomes do not need long-term storage, they are tightly wrapped with cling film and placed in a special compartment of the refrigerator. Astringency of aroma, spice and benefits of celery will be relevant for a week. Foil or food container will extend the shelf life. Transferred with paper towels, the green parts of the plant will remain in the vegetable refrigerator for 3 weeks.

There are several methods for keeping celery root for a long time. You can put sand in a large container, for example, a box, putting celery in it with the stalks outward, and store it in the underground.

You can put the roots in polyethylene bags, or leave them folded in wooden crates, the walls of which have no cracks. They take sand and sprinkle the products with a two-centimeter layer. Store in a special room with approximately ninety percent air humidity and a temperature of no higher than one positive degree.

Another method begins by preparing a clay mass to create a sour cream-like consistency. The roots are taken individually and dipped in clay. After drying, they are laid out in a vegetable store or in a cellar in stacks.

You can store celery root in piles with the stalks outward. It is necessary that all layers are sprinkled. For this, earth or sand mixed with chalk is suitable, then fungal diseases will not be terrible for the product.

Before storing the celery root dried, peel off the skin from it, cut it into strips, and dry it in a sunny place. The products are put into a glass container and closed.

It is good to store celery in the freezer for the winter. Root vegetables will need to be peeled. A coarse grater is taken, celery root is rubbed on it. The products are packed in bags and stored in the freezer for up to a year. Celery can be added to dishes frozen; defrosting is not required.