Celery

Apium graveolens

vegetable

Crunchy stalks of an umbellifer that grows wild along the streams of Europe, hence its old French name of marsh smallage; Charlemagne recommended growing it. It provides nitrates, falcarinol and phthalides.

Origin

Marshes of the Mediterranean basin

Season (United States)

July to November · grows in your region

Preparation

The leaves are eaten like an herb, in soup or salad. Its skin is eaten, and that is where its polyphenols sit: worth keeping, then — but under running water, rubbing it, which is what takes off most of what settles there, organic or not.

Molecules

Vegetable nitrates · Falcarinol · Insoluble fibers · Chlorophyll · Phthalides

Did you know?

Celery leaves and flowers were part of the garlands found in the tomb of Tutankhamun.