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See also: Kitchen Tips; Quotes; Celery Seeds
CELERY
Celery is native to the Mediterranean and the Middle East, and was used by the ancient Greeks and Romans as a flavoring. The Ancient Chinese used it as a medicinal.
The celery that we all buy in the local supermarket is Pascal variety, first cultivated in 1874 in Michigan.
Using a celery stick to garnish a Bloody Mary originated in the 1960s at Chicago's Ambassador East Hotel. An unnamed celebrity got a Bloody Mary, but no swizzle stick. He grabbed a stalk of celery from the relish tray to stir his Bloody Mary and history was made.
Two billion pounds of celery are grown each year in the U.S.
Supposedly, it takes more calories to eat and digest celery than there is in the celery.
Celery stalks, celery seed and celeriac (celery root) are each grown commercially from different varieties of the plant.
The wild form of celery is known as smallage. It has a bitter taste, and the stalks are more stringy than cultivated celery. Smallage was used in ancient times as a medicine, and the Romans used it as a seasoning. It was in the 17th and 18th centuries that celery was developed by breeding the bitterness out of smallage.
In it's 1897 catalog, Sears Roebuck & Co. advertised a celery nerve tonic for sale.
California produces more than 2/3rds of the celery grown in the U.S. and Florida produces about 20%.
Per capita U.S. consumption of celery is about 9 to 10 pounds per person annually. (2002)
California Celery Research Advisory Board www.celeryresearch.com
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