Celery stalks, composition, chemical properties and popularity in various national cuisines. Benefits and possible harm when consumed. Recipes and interesting facts about the plant. Another important health benefit of stalked celery relates to sexual function. The plant is an aphrodisiac, increases libido and potency in men. For women, menstrual pains are dulled.
Harm and contraindications to the use of celery stalks
But even the most useful product should not be overly carried away. You can only maintain health with a varied diet - this must be taken into account when following a diet for weight loss, in which stalked celery is the main ingredient.
Contraindications to the use of celery stalks are as follows:
- Arterial hypertension with a marked decrease in blood pressure. In this case, the pressure indicator can drop so much that it becomes difficult to move.
- Postoperative condition or rehabilitation process after serious illness.
- Varicose veins and thrombophlebitis, so as not to provoke a worsening of the condition due to increased coagulability.
- Large stones in the kidneys and any in the gallbladder and ducts, so as not to provoke colic.
- Enterocolitis and colitis, a tendency to diarrhea.
- Pancreatitis, even in history, cholecystitis at the stage of exacerbation.
- Pregnancy - acceleration of peristalsis can provoke uterine tone.
- Bronchial asthma - due to the high content of essential oils.
A relative contraindication to the introduction of many dishes with celery into a diet for weight loss is an increase in appetite. This action ensures precisely the high content of essential oils. It is impossible to gorge on low-calorie petioles and plant leaves. This leads to disruptions in the diet or, if persistence is shown, increases the likelihood of developing gastritis or peptic ulcer disease.
You should not introduce raw celery stalks into the diet with a tendency to polyvalent allergies - this can increase the production of histamine, provoke negative reactions to various types of foods. For celery allergies, specific allergens are carrots, parsley, dill, fennel, coriander, cumin and anise. Probable allergens can be: meadow grasses, nuts of all kinds, curries, cereals, ragweed, cucumbers, birch, tomatoes, wormwood, melons, mangoes, peppers and … latex.
Celery stalk recipes
There are so many dishes that use celery stalks as an ingredient that they cannot be included in a thick cookbook. The plant is included in the national cuisine of France, Italy, America, India … When preparing dishes from petioles, one should take into account the taste: white stems are sweetish, and red ones are tart and smell more pronounced - they contain more essential oils.
Celery stalks recipes:
- Provence salad … Boiled chicken breast is cut into small cubes, fried, 3-4 celery stalks are chopped into small pieces. Peel the orange, remove the pits, divide each slice into 3 parts - it is better to remove the white films, but the transparent ones can be left. Lettuce leaves are torn by hand. You can present a salad on whole leaves, but it will be inconvenient to eat later. Put lettuce leaves on a plate, in the center - a mixture of celery and orange, chicken breast along the edges. Season with a mixture of vegetable oil with lemon juice or soy sauce. If the preference is given to lemon juice, the salad is added.
- Celery salt … Celery stalks are washed in running water, removing the slightest dirt, and spread on a sieve or paper towel to get rid of excess water. Then each petiole is cut as small as possible and laid out on a baking sheet. The oven should be preheated to a temperature of 150 ° C. It takes so long to dry until the pieces of the plant shrink to the size of a pea and become fragile. After cooling, the "peas" should crumble at the slightest pressure. Then the dried celery is mixed with sea salt - 1/3, the seeds of the plant are added and ground until completely homogeneous. The dried celery is placed in sterilized dry jars and the lids are rolled up. You can store the workpieces at room temperature in a dark place. Used as a seasoning for salads and hot dishes.
- Soup-puree … Ingredients for the dish: 2 large celery stalks, potatoes - 2-3 pieces, 1 each - parsley root, carrots, 2 egg yolks, a tablespoon of melted butter. 2 liters of water are poured into a saucepan, oil is lowered there, put on fire. When the water boils, put all the vegetables, cut at random, into it. When the vegetables are cooked, the yolks are dissolved in a small amount of broth. Grind the vegetables with a blender, return to the pot, bring the broth to a boil and reduce the heat as much as possible. At this stage, pour in the broth with the yolks, stirring constantly. Add the heat again, bring to a boil, salt and pepper, if necessary. When serving, the soup is seasoned with sour cream and sprinkled with any herbs of your choice.
- Stuffed stems … Chicken breast (any part is possible) is cut into cubes and marinated in a mixture of lemon juice and pepper. The meat should be in the marinade for 30-45 minutes. Thick celery stalks are cut into 10 cm pieces, like stuffing pasta, and opened on one side, slicing lengthwise. Soy sauce is diluted with water - 1/1, celery is soaked in it for 30 minutes. Marinated chicken meat is fried until tender, salted, pepper, kneaded and stuffed with the stems. Grease a baking sheet with olive oil, lay out the stuffed celery, sprinkle with Parmesan and bake in the oven for 15 minutes until golden brown. The oven is heated to 180 ° C.
- Celery cocktail … Ingredients: celery stalks - 2 pieces, kiwi - 5 pieces, lemon or lime, mint leaves, a glass of water, ice, honey. Put celery, lime and kiwi in a blender, chop, add water. Water is added depending on the desired cocktail consistency. Ice is spread on the bottom of the glass, a drink is poured, honey is added to taste, and decorated with mint leaves. You can put the mint in a blender.
So that celery leaves and stalks do not lose their freshness, they need to be placed in a glass of water and, covered with a bag or foil on top, sent to the shelf in the refrigerator door. This way they retain their beneficial properties and qualities. Leaf celery can be used not only for preparing dishes, but also for decorating the table with them.
Interesting facts about celery in stalks
The antiquity of the herbaceous plant is evidenced by the mention of celery in the manuscripts of the Egyptians and Greeks.
The shroud of Tutankhamun was decorated with wreaths, into which cornflowers, lotus, willow, olive and celery branches were woven. And in The Iliad and The Odyssey, Homer sang the praises of the beautiful meadows, where cornflower flowers entwined celery stalks.
The most famous courtesan of France - Madame de Pompadour - back in the 18th century, she treated her royal lover King Louis XV to celery soup with truffles in order to increase the king's love ardor and eliminate frigidity. The well-known heartthrob Casanova included raw celery stalks in the diet every day.
Now celery of all kinds is included in the top three most popular vegetables among French chefs, along with onions and carrots.
Celery first appeared in America only in 1856, it was brought there by a resident of Scotland, George Taylor. The plant was so fond of consumers that already in 1872, farmers began to sow petiole celery as a food crop.
Now American chefs from Louisiana and Kajut have singled out their sacred vegetable trinity - celery, bell peppers and onions.
In Russia, petioled celery began to be prepared only in the middle of the 18th century, it was introduced into fashion by Catherine II.
The most popular varieties of leaf and stalk celery are: Vivacity, Kartuli, Samurai, Malachite, Pascal. They ripen approximately the same - 2, 5-3 months after planting, differ only in the amount of food mass and climatic resistance.
The finer the celery stalk is chopped, the more nutrients the body will receive. Until now, scientists have not been able to explain why this is happening.
Watch a video about celery:
Chopsticks can be made from celery stalks. They pick up rice, fried potatoes, meat in pieces, any vegetable salad, berries from jam, ice cream. It is convenient to stir juices with chopsticks - carrot, tomato, and even a milkshake. There is only one downside to using celery sticks - sometimes they run out earlier than the main course.
