How To Blanch Celery In Two Easy Steps
I might be one of the few people on this planet who absolutely loves celery. It’s unapologetically spicy and wonderful for the body. Tons of people were drinking celery juice as a trend a few years ago, and despite the taste, it proved to be beneficial for their skin health and digestive system. Growing celery is actually easy, and there’s a way to reduce the bitterness through blanching. Today’s article is going to focus on how to blanch celery without spending a cent.
The idea behind blanching celery is to block sunlight from reaching the stalks. When you limit the process of photosynthesis and the production of chlorophyll with the method in this article, it prevents the stalks of celery from tasting bitter, eliminating the need to steam or boil celery.
Cabbage is a good example of natural blanching.
The outer leaves protect the inside from sunlight exposure, which is why they are lighter in color compared to the external leaves.
When it comes to celery, if the leaves appear to have a rich and dark color of green but the stalks are significantly lighter, with shades of white, it has been blanched correctly and will not taste too bitter.
This Is How I Blanch Celery In My Garden
The basic principle of blanching is to block sunlight for approximately two to three weeks before harvesting. Furthermore, the celery stalks should be almost as long as your forearm. Since celery takes 130–140 days until full maturity, you should only blanch them after three months of planting.
There are three ways to blanch celery, and they are as follows:
- Mound by using soil to cover the stalks until you reach the leaves.
- Use a shade cloth to inhibit sunlight.
- Use plastic, paper, or cardboard to protect the stalks.
I chose to use cardboard because it doesn’t break down as easily as paper when it rains.
This is how you do it:
Wrap the cardboard around the stalks, leaving a few cms of space for watering. Use tape or a rubber band to seal the cardboard in place and insert the cardboard protector into the soil to keep it in place.
That’s it!
If you wish to use paper or plastic, follow the same step.
The only caveat to plastic is that it cannot be clear because sunlight will penetrate through it.
In the event that you want to use soil to blanch celery, create a heap as far up the stalk as you’d like. Use a substantial amount of soil to prevent sunlight from seeping through and reaching the stalk.
The longer you blanch celery in the garden, the lighter it will taste. But if you want to preserve some of its rich flavor and bitterness, stick with the recommendation of blanching for two weeks before harvesting.
I recently harvested some celery that was blanched using this exact method and juiced it. Believe me when I tell you that it tasted absolutely delicious, and I didn’t need to use many apples for sweetness like I normally would for store-bought celery.
Give this a try and let me know how it turns out!
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