Limp Celery

[Farmer_Gyles]

I pulled up some celery, cut off the roots, trimmed off the leaves, broke off a few sticks, washed then and ate them - lovely!
i put the rest in the fridge - but next day it was limp
supermarket celery stays crispy
but why didn't mine ???
i've got more celery to pull up and munch on but i don't want it going limp
please help!!

[TPeers]

Try putting it in a jug of water, bit like cut flowers. Should help keep it for a few days.

[Farmer_Gyles]

cheers terry, will give that a try with the next one

[Snadger]

Yeah I'd agree with that! Don't eat the stuff myself but remember my Dad always had some in a jug of water...now I know why!

[Hazel at the Hill]

My grandad had what I've always thought was a (particulary ugly, actually) green vase with 'celery' written on it - now I know what it was for - thanks peeps - another of life's little mysteries solved!

[scared55]

I sympathise with the celery!

KK

[bazzaboy]

LOL, great thread, memories memories…. When I was a kid (40s/50s) celery was THE standard Sunday tea “treat”- every bl** Sunday through the winter months including Christmas Day and Boxing Day, a double whammy! It was cut up and kept as cool as pos (fridge if you had access to such a thing) in a bowl of water with a piece of washed coal (but if Snadger’s Dad didn’t do that – coals to Newcastle etc – that bit may have been an affectation). But it certainly stayed crisp and Sunday tea was a noisy meal with 6 of us + any visiting aunts etc chomping away. If it was stringy that would become the main topic of adult conversation (along with "The War") that particular teatime and I imagine the greengrocer (Dad wisely never attempted to grow it) got his ears well and truly boxed on Monday.

Commercial growers evidently cool it to near freezing immediately after harvesting, it’s kept in a humidity of 95% (pretty close to ugly green vase treatment) and is stored/transported butt upwards. The other thing I’ve just learned, if anyone is really keen on it, is that 4 ounces of seed can produce about 40,000 plants . Informative site at
http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/hil/hil-27.html

But we should congratulate you Farmer G on growing it at all… celery and cauliflower are the two that usually outwit me (amongst many others in truth!) probably because they’re so pernickety about watering….

Thanks for the memory!

bb

[JennieAtkinson]

Oh thanks for that - wondered why my was the same (sounds like I had a great crop but only two!)

And thanks for the trip down memory lane bazzaboy! It was consumed with lots of salt in our house and we always ate the leaves. Remember doing that at somebody else's house when I was about 12 and getting funny looks! At Christmas we did have the celery with some soft cheese.

[Farmer_Gyles]

cheers bazzaboy, always interesting to read stuff like that!

[Headfry]

We would have celery for sunday nights meal! It would come with black peat on it and wrapped in a news paper! Grandma and us and always a home made victoria sponge cake!
Sometimes the 'shrimp' man would come round Sunday afternoons, ringing his bell to call us to the funny old van- shrimps in shells, what a lovely mess we three kids could make!
good days, good memories!

[Paulottie]

I sympathise with the celery!

KK

Have you gone limp then?

I'm not sure standing in a bowl of water will help that.

[Paulottie]

When I grew the stuff it was a spindley, sluggy, slimey, stringing mess...I'm just impressed that you have grown something worth saving in an ugly jug.