CELERY

CELERY FROM A GARDEN or farmers’ market is almost a different vegetable from the supermarket variety—the flavor is that much more intense. If you’ve never tasted the real thing, you have a delicious surprise ahead. Fresh from the garden, celery’s abundant leaves and crisp stalks remind you why we cultivated it in the first place—for its herbaceous qualities. The one good thing about our store-bought celery, however, is its generous size and seductive crunch. Once you strip off the tough outer stalks (and save them for vegetable stock), the hefty branches carry the flavor of the sauce they’re served in. And the heart is a tender replica of the entire plant, sweet yellow leaves and all. Of all vegetables, celery’s tendency to retain the qualities of the soil it’s grown in makes a strong case for choosing an organically grown variety.