Celery
- …celery seeds taste similar to the root and stalk, but are considerably more bitter and hotter?
- …celery salt, which is salt mixed with ground celery seeds is an appropriate spice for meat before grilling?
- …celery seeds can be added t bread dough, or sprinkled on spicy cookies?
- …celery seeds are tiny, brown, with five barely distinguishable ribs?
- …brave Achilles supposedly cured his sick horses with celery seeds?
- …Homer in his Odyssey writes of fields on the island of beautiful Calypso, filed with violets and celery?
- …celery seeds help alleviate bladder pains and are good for diabetics?
- …celery seeds are excellent for flavoring marinades and dressings?
- …celery seeds as a spice consist of whole or ground seeds of the Apium graveolens plant?
Sautéed cucumbers with celery seed
1 kg peeled cucumbers
chicken broth or water
2 tablespoons butter
2 teaspoons ground celery seeds
3 tablespoons whipping cream
Arrange cucumbers in a pan, sliced to about 2.5 cm thick and pour in broth or water. Simmer gently until cucumbers are tender (about 5 minutes) and drain. In a small pan, melt butter, and mix in celery seeds and cream. Pour mixture over cucumber slices and mix gently. Serve hot as a side dish.
Celery was considered a sacred herb by the Greeks and Romans. Along with Egyptians, they considered it a symbol of sadness and death. It was the custom to decorate graves with wreaths of celery leaves and spice funeral banquets with celery seeds. By contrast, in today's Greece celery is considered a plant that brings luck. In Europe, celery cultivation began after the Thirty Years War. Celery was cultivated in the 17th century from wild swamp celery. There are three main cultivars acknowledged today: leaf celery (green), stalk celery (white) and celery root (ball).