HISTORIC AND CULINARY 105 



CELERY 



Celery is a native plant occurring wild in moist places, 

 usually by the sea. It has long been known in its wild 

 state, and is referred to by Homer. Pliny described a 

 cultivated variety, and ever since that time the gardeners 

 of most European countries have devoted considerable 

 skill and attention to the culture of celery and to the 

 raising of new varieties. It is included in the list of 

 vegetables named in the report of the survey of the 

 monastery of St Gall made in the year 873, and nearly 

 every English work on gardening gives directions for 

 the proper growing and blanching of the plant. 



Celery is known and used in England chiefly in a raw 

 state, as an accompaniment to cheese, and certainly that 

 is one of the most useful and pleasant ways of eating it. 

 For this purpose take some heads of fresh blanched 

 celery, cut off the green parts and the outside leaves, 

 and also remove the stalk ends, wash in cold water, and 

 serve in a celery glass. Or the raw celery may be cut 

 into thin slices, the delicate leaflets being reserved as a 

 decoration for the top, and placed in a salad bowl 

 either alone or mixed with slices of cold cooked beet- 

 root, or with split filberts or walnuts, a salad dressing, 

 as advised for asparagus salad, being poured over the 

 celery immediately before serving. Do not shake this 

 salad, or the crispness of the celery will be lost. It 

 may be garnished with celery tops, cress, or lettuce 

 leaves. To 



Boil Celery, 



take six or eight heads of fresh celery, remove the outside 

 leaves and the green parts, and neatly trim the main 

 stalk. Cut to a uniform length of about six inches, 

 well wash in cold water, tie in neat little bundles, 

 plunge them into a saucepan of boiling salted water, and 

 boil until tender. Serve as advised for seakale. 



