How to Wash Celery

Whether you buy conventional or organic celery, you should wash celery before you eat it. Washing celery is easy and only takes a few short minutes.

How to Wash Celery

First, break the celery stalk off the bunch. Pull of as many as you need. Then store the celery in it’s original package in the high humidity drawer in your refrigerator. Or check out these other options for celery storage.

The base of the celery stalk probably has some brown-looking streaks on it. This is soil that was trapped in the celery as it grew. You’ll try to get rid of most of that when you wash it off. You probably won’t be eating all the way to the bottom of the stalk, so it’s okay if it doesn’t get sparkling clean.

Run the celery under cool water, and give the stalk a rub with your fingers. Be sure to get all surfaces of the stalk – the inside and outside, all the way from the top to the bottom. Pay special attention to the bottom of the stalk, where the dirt collected. You can use a produce brush to give the base of the stalk a little extra scrub. Produce washes are not necessary.

I wasn’t able to get these two stalks completely clean. I will discard the bottom of the stalks where the staining is. The celery stalks closer to the inside of the bunch are usually cleaner than the few stalks in the outer layers.

When the celery is clean, pat it dry with paper towels or a clean, dry hand towel. Use it right away, or use one of these methods to store it to keep it fresh.

Check out this video about Duda Farms, a celery farm in California for more information about celery.

How do you use celery?

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