When it comes to the crunch

Our fondness for celery has endured, but how can something composed almost entirely of water be quite so delicious? Ian Morton explores its virtues

- Ian Morton

MRS BEETON was an enthusiast, offering recipes for celery fried, stewed, with macaroni, with cream, in a white sauce, with chestnuts as a salad and as a constituent in clear mock-turtle soup (the basis of which was half a calf’s head). Celery endures. Oliver, Fearnley-Whittingstall, Stein, Slater, Blumenthal, the Hairy Bikers: popular chefs without exception proclaim its virtue uncooked, as the central feature of a dish and as a constituent. Its oil and its salt enliven sundry recipes— where would a Bloody Mary be without it? Celery figures strongly in French soups and sauces and, together with onions and bell peppers, is one of the holy trinity of Creole and Cajun cuisine.

Dieticians quote a low glycemic index, with vitamins A, B2, B6, C and K, together with potassium, manganese, pantothenic acid, a low sodium and calorie count, a strong antioxidant presence, benefits against cholesterol, digestive inflammation, rheumatism, high blood pressure and blood sugar, and plenty of dietary fibre, despite celery being 95% water. Celery juice has quite recently joined the faddish pantheon of health drinks, claims embracing the possible prevention of cancer, heart disease and degenerative diseases, such as multiple sclerosis, and even the boosting of male fertility. In addition, its diuretic and depurative qualities are recommended as part of a weight-loss regime.

What of that keen gastronomic enjoyment? When it comes to the crunch, what about that spicy flavour, that savoury aroma, the unique tang that celery brings to every dish it graces? Biochemistry informs us that these virtues are mainly the combined result of butylphthalide and sedanolide, a splendid thing to know, but, long before the lab technicians got to work, our forebears knew a good thing when they took a succulent bite of the individual stalk (to be pedantic, the stalk is a petiole, a whole bunch is a stick).