How to prepare different types of celery for the winter: the best ways and proven recipes

Celery is a popular herb of the umbrella family with housewives, which has a bright spicy taste and aroma. Its beneficial properties are widely known for strengthening immunity, maintaining male health, and also for normalizing metabolic processes. But this plant is most widespread as a universal seasoning for meat and vegetable dishes.

To keep the vitamin and piquant celery on the table all year round, try different ways of preparing it for the winter.

Types of celery

Distinguish three types of celery:

1. Root - a plant with a fragrant, fleshy tender root vegetable. Often used in cooking.
2. Petiolate - a plant with a succulent stem. It is best suited for various preparations - pickled, frozen, and dried, as well as in salads and vegetable mixtures.
3. Sheet - a kind of spicy herb for use as fresh herbs, salad dressing.

All types of celery are suitable for homemade preparations in a variety of ways.

Selection and preparation of celery

There are several general rules for preparing a spicy plant for winter storage.:

1. Root celery is removed from the ground carefully, without causing damage, gently shaking off the residues of the soil from the root crops. For storage, use only smooth, healthy, defect-free roots.
2. Petiole celery for storage in a fresh whole is washed, all unnecessary or damaged parts are removed, the thin upper peel of the stalks is left, the coarse ones are cut off. For storage in crushed form, its cuttings are completely cleaned and chopped.
3. Before storage, leaf celery is thoroughly washed, sorted out, spoiled fragments are removed and dried. After that, they are placed in a refrigerator for storage or frozen.

Celery canning does not require much preparation except for rinsing with water, cleaning and grinding.

How to prepare celery

The root variety of the plant is not afraid of frost, therefore, it is harvested in late autumn, carefully removed from the ground and placed for storage in the cellar.

Leaf celery cut off, washed, carefully sorted out... After that, the plant is collected in bunches and placed for drying in places without access to the sun. Then the dried herbs are crushed and laid out in storage containers. You can also chop fresh leafy greens first and lay them out to dry, then place the dried seasoning in jars, bags, or containers.

Petiolate view harvested in early autumnwhen the stems are most saturated with nutritious juice and nutrients. They are cut, washed, damaged parts removed, and then dried, frozen or made into blanks.

Celery harvesting methods

Freezing as a way to preserve a fragrant plant suitable for all varieties... Shredded or whole parts are placed in containers, bags or wrapped in film and placed in the freezer. So the plant retains its taste and nutritional properties for up to 12 months. It is used in salad and vegetable dishes, as a seasoning for soups and meat products.

Drying applies to all types of celery... Greens, stems or root are crushed and laid out to dry naturally on paper or wooden surfaces, or placed on a baking sheet or wire rack in an oven preheated to 40 ° C for 3-4 hours (root up to 6 hours).

Store this seasoning in dry places in glass, plastic or metal containers., sometimes in cloth bags or bags. The shelf life of celery harvested in this way is from 12 to 18 months. The flavor of a dried plant is slightly different from that of fresh or frozen greens.

Dry curing - this method of preserving celery is more suitable for the leaves... Shredded greens are mixed with salt (1 kg of leaves - 1 tbsp. Salt) and tightly placed in jars for storage in the refrigerator or cellar. Use such a blank as a seasoning for hot dishes.

Important. The shelf life of salted seasoning is no more than 2-3 months.

The best recipes for blanks

In addition to these methods, celery is canned in jars for the winter. Below we will analyze several popular recipes.

Classic pickled celery

The stems and the root of the plant are suitable for pickling.... Ingredients: 1 kg of fresh celery, 1 tbsp. l. sugar, 2 tsp. salt, 25 g coriander, 0.5 tbsp. vegetable oil, 0.5 tbsp. vinegar, 0.5 tbsp. soy sauce, red pepper to taste.

Preparation:

1. The stalks and root of celery are peeled, chopped or grated and squeezed out.
2. The oil is heated and salt, sugar and spices are added. When bubbles appear, pour in vinegar and soy sauce.
3. Chopped celery is poured with the prepared marinade and insisted for 12 hours, then laid out in jars and rolled up.

For leaves, use a slightly modified version of the recipe... For him you will need: 1 kg of spicy herbs, 1 head of garlic, 1 pod of hot pepper, 2 onions, 500 ml of water, 60 g of sugar, 30 g of salt, 100 ml of vinegar, seasonings to taste.

1. Cut celery, peppers and onions into pieces. Then, peeled garlic and seasonings are spread on the bottom of the jar, chopped vegetables are placed on top of them.
2. Bring the water in a saucepan to a boil, fill the jars with the workpiece with it and leave it for half an hour.
3. The water is poured back, salt and sugar are added and boiled for about 2 minutes. At the end, pour in vinegar.
4. The resulting marinade is filled with jars of vegetables and rolled up.

For peeling celery first, the part connecting all the stems is cut off, and then the hard veins are cleaned off from each petiole.

Celery with cucumbers and carrots

This is an original way of home preparation of a fragrant plant in the form of a salad mixture with other vegetables.

For such a recipe you will need:

• 1 kg fresh celery stalks;
• 800 g carrots;
• 500 g of fresh cucumbers;
• 1.5 tbsp. water;
• 0.5 tbsp. vinegar;
• salt and sugar - 1 tsp each;
• 2-3 branches of dill, parsley and cloves - to taste.

Preparation:

1. The washed celery stalks are peeled and chopped into small pieces. The cucumbers are cut into thin slices and the carrots are chopped into strips. These ingredients are filled into sterilized jars.
2. Add sugar, salt, seasonings and vinegar to a pot of water and bring to a boil.
3. Jars of prepared vegetables are poured with hot marinade, cover them and leave to infuse for 24 hours.

Celery with cabbage

Components:

• 1-1.5 kg of cabbage;
• 2 carrots;
• 200-300 g of celery;
• 5-6 bay leaves;
• 1 tsp coriander seeds or dill seeds;
• 2 tbsp. l. salt;
• 10 black peppercorns.

Cooking algorithm:

1. Chop and mash the cabbage. Peel and grate carrots and celery. Mix everything and add crushed coriander.
2. Put the vegetable mixture in prepared jars, alternating layers with bay leaves and peppercorns.
3. Dissolve salt in 1 liter of water at room temperature, pour the brine into jars, close and remove for two days in a warm place.
4. Pierce vegetables with a knife in several places twice a day to release air and full fermentation.
5. After two days, the vegetables are ready, they are put away for storage.

Celery in tomato sauce

This winter preparation has a rich piquant taste.

To prepare it you need:

• 1 kg fresh celery stalks;
• 2 kg of fresh tomatoes;
• 1 tbsp. l. vinegar;
• 0.5 tbsp. l. salt;
• 2 tbsp. l. Sahara;
• 2 tbsp. l. vegetable oil;
• a small pod of hot pepper;
• some greens - dill, parsley, celery leaf.

Preparation:

1. The whole quantity of tomatoes is turned through a meat grinder or crushed in a blender.
2. The resulting tomato mass is boiled for 60 minutes. Finely chopped hot peppers, sugar, salt and butter are then added to the puree and boiled for another 15 minutes.
3. The chopped celery stalks are placed in the prepared mixture and left to cook for about 30 minutes more.
4. At the end, chopped greens are added to the vegetable mass and season with vinegar. The workpiece is laid out in banks and rolled up.

Celery juice

All parts of the plant are suitable for obtaining juice.... There are two options for squeezing - using a juicer or with your hands through cheesecloth, squeeze grated celery. Freshly squeezed juice has the greatest value and benefit. But you can prepare it for the winter. The juice is frozen in ice cube trays, and in winter the cubes are used to make smoothies or juices.

Reference. It is recommended to add 15 g of olive oil to a glass of celery juice before use or dilute it with fruit juices.

Marinating celery in honey-oil filling

Required ingredients:

• 1 kg fresh celery stalks;
• 2 medium heads of garlic;
• 100 ml lemon juice;
• 20 ml olive oil;
• 20 g of honey;
• 20 ml vinegar;
• 2 tsp sesame seeds;
• 100 g of parsley;
• 1 PC. anise;
• salt and ground red pepper to taste.

Preparation:

1. The celery stalks are peeled and cut into pieces, chopped parsley and garlic are added, as well as sesame seeds, salt, spices.
2. The vegetable mixture is placed in sterilized jars.
3. In a separate bowl, mix oil, honey, lemon juice and vinegar. Pour vegetables in jars with this marinade and roll up.

Winter storage of celery

There are several ways to preserve spicy herbs during the winter.so that all its parts do not lose their useful and taste properties: freezing, dry mix with salt and drying.

Chopped celery is mixed with salt and placed in containers for storage in the refrigerator. In such a mixture, all vitamins and trace elements of the plant are preserved.

Celery root can be stored for up to a month in the refrigeratorif wrapped in plastic or in a bag. For longer storage, fresh plant roots are placed in a cellar or basement, placed in boxes filled with sand or covered with polyethylene with small holes. In this form, it is allowed to store root crops on balconies or loggias. For a long maturation, they are sorted, selecting even and smooth specimens without defects and cracks.

Stems and leafy greens are stored in the refrigeratorwrapped in foil or in special containers. These parts of the plant are pre-washed and dried. You can also freeze chopped celery in ice cube trays with a little water.

The root part can also be stored in refrigerator, washed and dried. Or grind the roots with a grater or blender, put them in a freezer container and put them in the freezer.

Important. Celery wrapped in foil in the refrigerator retains its original appearance for 10 days, and begins to fade in the film on the third day.

Conclusion

There are many ways to harvest and store celery in winter. You can choose the most convenient and effective one or apply several methods at once and use a spicy and healthy seasoning in your home diet all year round.