Apium graveolens

celery

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Apium graveolens L. (Apiaceae); seldery (Afrikaans); qin cài, sai kan choi (Chinese); célerei (French); Sellerie (German); sèdano (Italian); oranda mitsuba (Japanese); daun sop (Malay); apío (Spanish); khuen chai (Thai)

DESCRIPTION The small dry fruits (“celery seeds”) are about 1 mm (0.04 in.) in diameter and have minute corky ridges visible on the fruit surface. The flat leaves of Chinese celery (var. secalinum) are used as a condiment, while stalk celery (var. dulce) and celeriac (var. rapaceum) are vegetables but nevertheless add a lot of flavour when used in soups and stews.

THE PLANT The celery plant is an erect, biennial aromatic herb with bright green foliage and umbels of tiny cream-coloured flowers followed by small dry fruits.

ORIGIN The wild form of celery occurs over large parts of Europe, Asia and Africa and has a long history of use as a culinary herb by the ancient Chinese, Egyptians, Greeks and Romans. Chinese celery (qin cài) is derived from the highly aromatic wild Asian form of the species. Vegetable uses (stalk celery, celeriac) developed later.1

CULTIVATION Seeds are directly sown or container-grown seedlings may be planted. Celery requires rich organic soil and thrives even under saline conditions. Celery is a marsh plant and therefore requires moist conditions and regular watering.

HARVESTING Ripe fruits are gathered in the second year from mature plants. Chinese celery leaves are cut at regular intervals throughout the season. Stalk celery has to be blanched but self-blanching cultivars have been developed that spontaneously lose the chlorophyll in their leaf stalks.1 Yields of 40 to 60 tons per hectare can be expected.

CULINARY USES The Malay name for Chinese celery is daun sop or “soup leaf” because it is mainly used in soup, to which it adds a strong, bitter taste. In Asian cooking it is also used in noodle or rice dishes and in stir-frying. Stalk celery can be used raw in salads but is best known for adding a rich spicy flavour to soups and stews. Celery seeds are used as a spice in Indian cooking and are an essential ingredient of many spice mixtures and recipes in French, English and American cookery. These include meat dishes, sausages, salami, corned beef, soups, gravies, beverages, confectionery, ice cream and chewing gum.2

FLAVOUR COMPOUNDS Celery leaves and petioles owe their distinctive flavour to a combination of four compounds, namely 3-butyltetrahydrophthalide, 3-butylphthalide, apiole and myristicin.3,4 The fruits contain essential oil with limonene as main compound and smaller amounts of β-selinene, apiole, santalol, α- and β-eudesmol and dihydrocarvone. Also present in the seed oil are small amounts (1% each) of 3-butylphthalide and sedanolide, to which the characteristic odour is ascribed.3

NOTES Celery salt has become popular in low-salt diets. It is made from dried and powdered celeriac mixed with sea salt.

1. Riggs, T.J. 1995. Umbelliferous minor crops (Umbelliferae). In: Smartt, J., Simmonds, N.W. (Eds), Evolution of crop plants (2nd ed.), pp. 481–484. Longman, London.

2. Farrel, K.T. 1999. Spices, condiments and seasonings. Aspen Publishers, Gaithersburg, USA.

3. Harborne, J.B., Baxter, H. 2001. Chemical dictionary of economic plants. Wiley, New York.

4. Sellami, I.H., Bettaieb, I., Bourgou, S., Dahmani, R., Limam, F., Marzouk, B. 2012. Essential oil and aroma composition of leaves, stalks and roots of celery (Apium graveolens var. dulce) from Tunisia. Journal of Essential Oil Research 24: 513–521.