How do you keep your celery from wilting

[georgevan]

it seems 3 or 4 days they start to wilt

 

[dragnlaw]

Rinse or clean to eat (which ever you prefer) bag them in a zippy bag with some paper towel.
Mine keeps over a week - sometimes at the end of a week, I will rinse and change the paper towel. I've kept them up to 2 weeks.

 

[medtran49]

I've always kept celery for weeks in the vegetable drawer in the refrigerator without issues in the plastic sleeve it comes in. If it starts to get limp and you are going to cook with it, big deal, it's going to get soft when heat hits it anyway. If you want to eat it raw, cut off and trim what you want, stick it in some cold water, and put in refrigerator for a few hours. Unless it's really far gone, it will crisp back up nicely.

If your celery is going bad enough to have to throw away in a short period of time, you need to find someplace else to buy your produce.

 

[taxlady]

I do the same as medtran with equally good results. The only thing I do differently is that I save the plastic sleeve from celery to reuse. I put it on the other end of the celery. That helps keep the leaves from drying out and I use the leaves, if they are still nice.

 

[Aunt Bea]

A bunch of celery can be a challenge for a single person to manage without some waste.

Think about why you buy it and how you use it.

Mine lasts about a month using methods similar to those explained above.

I also mince and freeze celery to use in soups, casseroles, etc…

If you don’t use much celery consider buying celery seed to add to tuna salad, coleslaw, etc… and or a frozen mirepoix for use in soups.

Also, build a small group of recipes to use excess fresh celery. Things like celery salad, sandwich filling, stuffed celery, cream of celery soup, gratin of celery, etc…

 

[blissful]

@Aunt Bea I dice it small and freeze it too, to use in soups and stews.

Usually when I get groceries, for celery, I chop off the bottom, trim the tips, keep the leaves, wash it, cut it in 6 inch pieces and put it in a plastic bag in the fridge, for eating raw. Mr bliss isn't a fan of celery except the stuff we grow, it is fresher and less bitter, so I don't make much with raw fresh celery for us.

When I was growing up we made chop suey with soy sauce and pork, and lots of sliced celery, maybe a few other veggies. I haven't had it in years.

 

[caseydog]

I do what other people here do. I buy my celery, cut it into sticks, removing the base and leaves, wash it, and put it back in the bag it came in. I can often get a couple of weeks from it. If the ends brown a little, I just cut the ends off -- no more than a quarter-inch is lost on each end.

And, like others have said, if it wilts, it is still good for cooking. Cooking is going to soften it anyway, so it's okay if it a little wilted.

The thing I can't control is how old the celery is before I buy it. Stores that are always crowded go through produce a lot faster than those that don't do a lot of business. The Kroger nearest my house is nearly empty most of the time, so their produce usually sucks. It is harder to tell on some items than others. But, if the bell peppers are consistently soft and wrinkled, then everything is probably too old.

CD

 

[blissful]

When celery smells sweet it is fresh, when you can smell bitterness, it is old.

 

[rodentraiser]

I had heard if you wrap your celery in foil, it will stay fresh. I've been doing that and it seems to work. But I usually only buy celery when I'm going to use it, so I haven't kept it in foil for any long length of time, just a couple of days at the max.

Now I've heard this, too, although I haven't tried it. When you use your celery, don't toss the bottom. Put it in water instead and once the roots start growing, you're supposed to be able to plant it. I imagine if you had a whole celery plant, you could take individual spears off and use them as you needed them.

 

[GotGarlic]

I had heard if you wrap your celery in foil, it will stay fresh. I've been doing that and it seems to work. But I usually only buy celery when I'm going to use it, so I haven't kept it in foil for any long length of time, just a couple of days at the max.

Celery will keep for a long time in the bag it's sold in and you can save the foil for something else.

Now I've heard this, too, although I haven't tried it. When you use your celery, don't toss the bottom. Put it in water instead and once the roots start growing, you're supposed to be able to plant it. I imagine if you had a whole celery plant, you could take individual spears off and use them as you needed them.

I tried this once. It works, but it grows slowly and wasn't worth it to me. YMMV.

 

[GotGarlic]

I have this Tupperware celery keeper. I think I got it as a wedding gift in 1984. I take the celery out of the bag, trim it to fit if necessary, and put the celery in it. The mesh keeps it off the bottom, so it doesn't sit in condensed water and rot. It lasts at least a month. Vintage ones are available on eBay.

 

[dragnlaw]

GG, I always thought those celery keepers were neat and would do a good job. At the time, extras were not in my budget and celery didn't last long with 4 kids, so I never got one.
Glad to hear they work!

 

[taxlady]

I tried the method of wrapping the celery in foil. I didn't think it worked as well as just using the bag it comes in and it was more foofing around too.

 

[Aunt Bea]

I tried the method of wrapping the celery in foil. I didn't think it worked as well as just using the bag it comes in and it was more foofing around too.

I had a similar experience.

I look for dark green celery with some mud still clinging to it.

The mature/coarse old fashioned celery seems to hold up better and IMO has much more flavor than the tender pale green hearts of celery.

 

[dragnlaw]

If I'm using it for cooking I too, like the dark green celery. But for eating out of hand, I much prefer the pale milder stalks.

 

[jazzerlord]

it seems 3 or 4 days they start to wilt

It's super easy - just grab the celery and wrap it up in some foil. The aluminum foil lets the celery "breathe" but also holds in enough moisture so it doesn't dry out. You just gotta wrap each stalk tightly in foil, or even wrap the whole bunch, and then pop it in the veggie drawer of the fridge.

 

[dragnlaw]

You would wrap each stalk in foil?

 

[GotGarlic]

It's super easy - just grab the celery and wrap it up in some foil. The aluminum foil lets the celery "breathe" but also holds in enough moisture so it doesn't dry out. You just gotta wrap each stalk tightly in foil, or even wrap the whole bunch, and then pop it in the veggie drawer of the fridge.

Aluminum foil is solid - it doesn't "breathe." The growers know what they're doing when they design the bag celery is sold in. It's best to just keep it in the bag. Unless you have a cool celery keeper, like I do

 

[taxlady]

Aluminum foil is solid - it doesn't "breathe." The growers know what they're doing when they design the bag celery is sold in. It's best to just keep it in the bag. Unless you have a cool celery keeper, like I do

Oh, the aluminium wrap does let the celery breathe, eventually. Every time you unwrap and wrap it, it gets harder to seal it up well. The foil wrinkles. It lets in lots of air, but that still doesn't make it work as well as the bag the celery comes in does.

 

[dragnlaw]

IMHO foil certainly has many good uses but not for constant wrapping and unwrapping. I also think it wasteful of both monetary and resources to do individual pieces. The bag it came in works perfectly and you've already paid for it - so why not use it!
During the season you will also probably find local celery being sold not in bags. I usually use my own vegie bags when shopping but I'll take one the the bags supplied for celery.