Celery leaves have an intense celery flavor that is delicious and nutritious! Sage Mountain Farm is harvesting a crop of celery today that will be included in their Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm share boxes this week. However farmer Phil considers it a “crop fail”. Meaning that due to the cold weather, although they have an out-of-this-world flavor, the celery stalks didn’t fully grow.
You can treat these “baby” celery and their leaves like you would any fresh herb by mincing or chopping coarsely. The same principle applies to all celery leaves. Here are just a few ideas of what you can do with them:
- Toss with salad greens and a home-made vinaigrette into a delightful salad.
- Enrich the flavor of stir-fries, stocks, soups, and sauces.
- Use celery leaves as a fresh herb. Mince them finely or coarsely chop them to garnish any dish with bright, celery flavor.
- Swap parsley for celery leaves in a classic tabbouleh with Bulgar, tomato, and cucumber.
- Make a celery leaf and chickpea salad. Combine celery leaves, chopped celery, and chickpeas with shaved red onion and sherry vinaigrette.
How to Make Celery Leaf Pesto
This recipe from thekitchn.com for celery leaves knocked my socks off! ..And it’s cold outside!!! So I quickly put my socks back on and raced over to the computer to share the recipe with you! *hold onto your socks*
Prepare celery leaves into a puree for a flavorful and bright pesto with toasted nuts and Parmesan cheese. In a food processor, fitted with a standard blade, chop 2 small garlic cloves until they won’t break down any further. Add 1/2 cup walnuts or almonds, and 2 to 3 cups celery leaves; blend until finely chopped. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Blend again, streaming in 3/4 cup to 1 cup olive oil through the top feed tube until smooth. Add 1/2 cup Parmesan or Pecorino cheese. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Serve as a spread over toasted Italian bread with thick slices of heirloom tomatoes, a drizzle of good olive oil, and flaked sea salt. Layer it into a hearty sandwich with avocado, thinly sliced cucumber, goat cheese, and arugula. Give thanks… and enjoy!
Nutritional Benefits
Celery leaves offer nutritional value that can boost your health. Celery leaves are loaded with vitamins, minerals, fiber, macronutrients and have a great balance of calcium, magnesium and phosphorus that are beneficial for bone, joint and ligament health while strengthening nerve and muscle function. The vitamin E you get in celery leaves gives your cells antioxidant protection. Celery leaves contain a small amount of iodine but by pairing with foods rich in this mineral such as sea bass, perch and haddock, you can increase your iodine intake.
Tip: By juicing celery leaves you get 500% morecalcium, magnesium, vitamin c and phenolic compounds than you would from just eating the stalk.
Green & Orange Smoothie Recipe
Using farm fresh organic Sage Mountain Farm ingredients from your CSA farm share box, juice 2 Valencia oranges with 3 organic baby celery stalks with leaves, a handful of organic mixed greens, 5 small organic carrots, 1/2 of an organic green apple, topped with 2 ice cubes. Blend, give thanks.. and enjoy!
Don’t miss out on celery leaves valuable nutrition and remember to eat the leaves! We would love to hear from you. Please share with us how you prepare celery leaves.
Love your food, love your body – Love your family, love your farmer. Join a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program today and live for a healthier you!
We are here to provide you with the highest quality produce we can, through our CSA program and through any of our many Farmer’s Market locations throughout Riverside, San Bernardino and San Diego Counties. We hope that you explore our webpage and become as excited and passionate about local, organic food, as we are. It is our mission to promote a healthier community through our CSA program. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us anytime by email, phone, or through the comments section of this website.
Thank you for visiting and your continued support!
This farm is a labor of love and we couldn’t do it without our community and wonderful customers! Please tell your friends about us. Referrals are the greatest compliments and we appreciate them more than we could ever convey!
Let’s make small farms in our region stronger and profitable!
Comments, suggestions and questions?
Contact me directly: amy@sagemountainfarm.com
Visit www.sagemountainfarm.com & www.sagemountainbeef.com
for more information about our farm.
Together, let’s get healthy!
Many blessings to you and yours!
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