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Celery

Florida Fruits and Vegetables in the Commercial Menu

1931

A generous serving of fresh Florida celery, crisp and "crunchy" will sell almost any meal. Celery is a good balance for meat and bread diet; it adds texture to the too-soft food; it lends a flavor and an individuality to the neutral meal; it gives freshness to the canned meal; supplies bulk for the concentrated food; furnishes minerals and vitamins to the starch and sugar diet, saves the day for an emergency addition, being always ready without cooking. (See "Salads.")

Celery is best in its fresh, crisp, raw form but it may be cooked slightly without decreasing its value. The coarser outside stalks may be utilized in soups, white sauce, chowder, chop suey, stews, and scallops while the hearts go with the salads, sandwiches, and garnishes.

Florida celery grows under ideal conditions of soil, sunshine and climate; it is tender, well flavored and superior in quality.

Celery Chowder.
(Serves 12 to 14.)

2 quarts finely diced celery,	3 teaspoons salt,
6 large potatoes, diced,	¼ teaspoon pepper,
2 medium a sized onions, chopped,	2 quarts milk,
4 tablespoons flour,	4 hard cooked eggs.

Melt the fat in a kettle. Add the chopped onion, celery, and potato. Cover with boiling water and simmer gently until the celery and potatoes are tender. Add salt, pepper and milk. Heat well and thicken with the flour which has been rubbed smooth in 4 tablespoons of water. Just before serving add the hard cooked eggs chopped fine.

Celery Scramble.
(Serves 12.)

6 eggs	4 dozen oysters
12 slices bacon	4 cups celery, salt to taste

Brown the bacon in a skillet. Remove bacon and place oysters in the pan and heat until they begin to curl. Add eggs slightly beaten. Cook until the mixture begins to thicken and add chopped celery and then cook only long enough to heat the celery. Serve on toast or on lettuce. Garnish with crisp bacon.

Celery Relish.

2 qts. celery or six bunches,	1 qt. onions.
3 qts. cabbage or 2 large heads. Chop and cover with salt water for two days. Drain well and put on stove with:
1 ½ qts. vinegar	4 cups brown sugar
¼ lb. mustard,	1 tablespoon flour
1 tablespoon turmeric powder.

Boil twenty minutes, then add three well-beaten eggs, before taking from heat. Add more salt and sugar if needed.

American Chop Suey.

1 lb. round steak ground	1 large bunch celery
1 cup raw rice	1 pint tomatoes
1 green pepper (cut fine),	1 can mushrooms may be added,
1 large onion.	–

Brown, heat slightly in small quantity of fat, add all other ingredients which have been cut. Cook until vegetables are tender. Add tabasco if desired. (Jewel Taylor, Florida Power & Light Co.)

Chile Con Carne.

One pound hamburger, one-half can pimentos, cut fine; two large onions, cut fine, one cup diced celery, one teaspoon sugar, one pint tomatoes, one package spaghetti, cooked in boiling salted water. When spaghetti is tender, drain off water; add hamburger, celery, tomatoes, pimentos, onions, sugar. Cook slowly until meat is done. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add tabasco if desired.

Source:
Excerpt from Stennis, M.A., "Celery" Florida Fruits and Vegetables in the Commercial Menu, State of Florida Department of Agriculture, Tallahassee, September, 1931, pgs 30-31.

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