Celery Secalinum organic seeds - Apium graveolens

Cutting Celery develops an aromatic foliage always at hand. Sourced from organic seeds of Apium graveolens var. secalinum, this leaf celery forms a compact, highly fragrant clump, to be harvested as needed. This plant withstands repeated cuttings while remaining dense. In a family vegetable garden, it offers a fresh and intense note to dishes and soups.

Cutting celery belongs to the Apiaceae family, like parsley or carrot. It corresponds to the "leaf" type of the species Apium graveolens, named Apium graveolens var. secalinum. This name encompasses various celery cultivars grown for their foliage and fine stems, selected in Europe and Asia for their very pronounced aroma.
It is an aromatic, biennial herbaceous plant: in the first year, it produces a dense clump of leafy stems; in the second, if left in place, it flowers and then goes to seed. The plant has a fleshy main root, less developed than in celeriac. The plant forms an upright, compact clump 30 to 40 cm high, with a spread of about twenty centimetres. The stems are green, hollow and streaked, finer and more numerous than those of stalk celery. The medium to dark green, shiny leaves, borne on short petioles, are pinnate, finely divided into toothed, triangular segments. They visually resemble a vigorous flat-leaf parsley, but with a much more pronounced celery smell and flavour. This foliage is deciduous: in cold climates, the above ground part may disappear in winter, the plant regrowing from the ground the following spring if the frost has not been too severe. It flowers from June to August with small, white to greenish umbels, typical of Apiaceae, very nectar-rich and pollinated by a great diversity of insects (bees, hoverflies, small flies). The flowers produce tiny dry fruits, ovoid, light brown diachenes, which are the same as the "celery seeds" used as a spice. The plant can self-seed if a few umbels are allowed to ripen.

Compared to stalk celery (Apium graveolens var. dulce) or celeriac (var. rapaceum), cutting celery forms neither large fleshy midribs nor a tuberous bulb. All its energy goes into the foliage, which is finer, more fragrant, and very rich in essential oils. Its taste is more powerful, sometimes slightly peppery; it is an excellent aromatic herb for enhancing dishes.
It is traditionally found in many European and Asian cuisines as a soup herb.

Harvest: pick the leaves at the base as needed, from 5 to 6 months after sowing. Before winter frosts, you can remove the entire rootball to store it in a cellar for several weeks.

Storage: The leaves of cutting celery are best consumed fresh to fully enjoy their aroma. However, they can be frozen.

In the kitchen: Cutting celery is used like parsley with a celery taste, using both the leaves and fine stems. Raw, you can chop it over salads, raw vegetables, potatoes, lentils, in vinaigrettes, herb butters or cheeses, as well as in sandwiches and wraps to add a fresh and very fragrant note. Cooked, it enhances soups, broths, stews, vegetable sautés, pasta or rice dishes, preferably added at the end of cooking to preserve all its aroma.
As its taste is quite powerful, start with small quantities and adjust to your taste. You can use the leaves as an aromatic herb and the chopped stems in your cooking bases.
The seeds are used as a spice. They are harvested from well-ripened umbels, left to dry, then used whole or lightly crushed. Their fragrance is very concentrated, more powerful and slightly warmer than that of the foliage: a few pinches are enough. You can add them to marinades, pickles and gherkin jars, cabbage or potato salads, tomato sauces, broths and stews.
They are also used to prepare the famous "celery salt": simply finely grind the dry seeds and mix them with fine salt, creating a very aromatic seasoning for tomato juice, eggs, grilled vegetables or fish. Store them very dry, away from light, in a small closed jar: they will keep their fragrance for many months.

The gardener's little tip: To limit watering, we advise you to mulch the soil with successive thin layers of grass clippings, if possible mixed with dead leaves, from the end of May. This protection keeps the soil moist and reduces weeding.