Celery is widely used as toppings in a variety of recipes for its versatility. Besides, it is well known for its strong “herb” aroma and spicy yet salty flavor.
However, for those who just started eating celery, the above terms “spicy,” “salty,” “earthy” are not clear enough. In this post, let us clarify the question “What does celery taste like ?” and provide you with further information about this special food.
No need to waste more time; let’s start!
What To Know About Celery
First, we need to know what celery is. Scientifically, it is a marshland plant with a low concern level. Celery can survive in almost any environment, so you can buy it in any store and market at an affordable price.
The celery is a thick, long plant with fibrous stalks tapering into its leaves regarding the composition. When chewing, the celery is crispy and juicy.
The celery is famous for its strong, unique smell with a spicy taste. You can feel slightly stingy when tasting the celery for the first time.
Breaking down the nutrition facts, a serving portion (40 grams) of celery contains only 0.1 grams fat, 32 mg sodium, and about 1.2 grams of carbohydrate. To add-in, there is only 0.5-gram sugar in 40 grams of celery. In general, it is such a suitable choice for those who are following the “clean” diet, right?
What Does Celery Taste Like?
Celery is a healthful food that we totally recommend eating frequently. The plant contains a high amount of vitamins and minerals, which are good for your health.
About the celery flavor, most people comment that its distinctive taste is spicy, which can be realized through the stingy feeling at the tip of the tongue. There is a slight bitterness as well.
The celery is crispy and juicy. For such a feature, serving it raw is the best way to enjoy celery.
Celery’s texture
In terms of texture, celery is famous for its crispiness. Whenever people want to choose a crunchy and crispy herb, celery must be their top choice.
However, it is not the only special thing about celery. Besides being crunchy, the celery is juicy with a high percentage of water, minerals, and vitamins. Therefore, celery is a great choice for those who are seeking a healthy detox diet.
Looking from the outside, you can realize that the celery is quite similar to a carrot: they all have many snaps on their “body.” This fibrous nature of a celery strand makes it stringy.
Celery’s flavor
Celery is loved by lots of people but also disliked by many others. The reason for this distinction relies on its strong and unique flavor.
There is no exact word to describe the taste of celery. It is not “spicy,” but when you chew it, you will slowly feel the pain at the tip of the tongue. Some people may feel stingy to the nose and tongue at the same time. And this is the exact effect we have when eating spicy food, so, in other words, we can describe the celery as “spicy.”
Besides, the celery also provides us with a bitter experience. When chewing the plant, you can find that besides the spiciness, celery tastes bitter, too.
However, the bitter taste of the celery is not as significant as the spice, so usually, the spiciness overshadows the bitter taste. That is the reason people did not realize the slight bitterness.
Tips For Using Celery
In this part, we will answer how to make celery taste good into three small parts: how to prepare, store, and cook celery effectively.
How To Prepare Celery
- When you plan to use the celery, cut out the stalks and leaves.
- Remember to cook the celery as fast as possible right after cutting the stem.
- Remove the old stems carefully, since the strands of celery are quite fragile.
How To Store Celery
- Keep the celery in closed containers or Ziploc bags and put it in the refrigerator. You will be able to keep the food for more than a week.
- Keep the stalks and leaves of the celery until you plan to use them.
- After a few days, the celery will slowly become less crispy. You can trim the end of the strand and soak it in ice water to retrieve the crispiness.
- To keep the food longer, please free it and pack it in airtight bags.
How To Cook Celery
- You can serve celery raw, or cook, fry, boil it, etc. However, this plant retains the best celeriac taste when using raw. Please only cook the celery when you cannot tolerate the raw smell.
- The top choices for stuffing celery recipes: cheese, potato, tomato, deviled eggs.
- When using raw, the celery goes best in sandwich, hamburger, taco recipes.
FAQs
How To Make Celery Taste Better?
Celery is spicy and earthy with a strong herb fragrance, so we understand that many people, who cannot tolerate that smell, will find celery tastes bad. So, let me guide you three ways to make the celery taste more delicious:
- Cook the celery: Typically, people use celery in raw form, in salad recipes. The green has a spicy taste then. However, there is the fact that only a few people know – celery will taste sweeter when being cooked. So, we advise you to cook the celery and try it. You may be surprised by such sweetness!
- Curl the celery: This is our way to “decorate” the celery to make it look tastier. If we cut the big, thick celery into small strips, we will feel it is easier to eat.
- Stuffing: You should use seasonings like vinegar, mayonnaise, oil, cream, sugar to raise the celery taste. Stir the celery with potato, tomato, cabbage, white onions, scallions, etc., and the stuffing dish is more delicious.
What Is The Best Celery Recipe?
Well, celery is widely used in a variety of recipes. Though, it is subjective to pick out what is the best recipe for celery. Therefore, in this section, we will just recommend our favorite menu – celery salad. Please take my advice as a reference.
So, how to make the celery salad? In short, just like other salads, your job is to mix the ingredients together. You wash the food, divide it into small pieces, chop, or slice the celery as you like.
Next, put all the food together in a bowl, and add seasonings like vinegar, mayonnaise, oil, etc., to stir. That’s all for the recipe.
What Can I Substitute to Celery?
There are many substitutes for celery that you can refer to. For example, the fennel stalks and fennel bulbs are compatible to replace the celery. Their flavor and smell are similar.
Besides, the onion, from red, yellow, to white type, can be used as a substitution for celery. That being said, the scallion (green onion) is a good alternative.
If you don’t like the “herb” smell, then you can choose the carrots as a celery substitution, though. Its texture and appearance are far different from celery, right? However, it provides a similar flavor and can complement well the ingredients in celery-related menus.
Conclusion
In this post, we have discovered the answer to “What does celery taste like ?”. As mentioned above, the celery provides a strong “herb” aroma with an earthy flavor. Besides, the food is so healthy that we advise you to eat it frequently.
