Leaf or Chinese celery, Apium graveolens var. secalinum
If you live in a warm climate this is the celery to grow, as the more common stalk celery, Apium graveolens var dulce, which originated in Italy, really requires a cool climate to develop tender long, mild flavoured stalks. Leaf celery grows for a couple of years before being spent and provides a plentiful supply of tender shoots which are indispensable when making stock ,soup or stews. They can also be added to stir-fries. It needs regular water during the growing season and a thick mulch around the plants is beneficial. Mulch can also help to blanch the lower leaf stalks which gives them a better flavour. This leaf celery is also a fairly common wild foraging plant being found in marshy swampy areas usually close to the coast, though the taste may be stronger than a cultivated plant. As the leaves resemble flat leaf parsley, it was marketed a few years back as Australian sea parsley but given our fairly conservative and unadventurous taste for new things it disappeared from the nurseries fairly quickly.
I think I must have had some of this growing in my garden this summer, it took over an entire plot. As you have said, it makes great stock! But in the end I pulled it all up. Its roots were like slender carrots. Do you know if the roots of these plants are edible?
ReplyDeleteI am not sure whether the roots would be edible. I think they would have a very strong flavour. There is a parsley variety called "Hamburg"which is grown just for its roots which look like carrots.
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