Blanching Celery

[schmije]

I read that you're supposed to blanch celery for a couple of weeks before you harvest it to get rid of the bitter flavor. It sounds to me like this simply means you mound dirt up around the stalk. Do I understand this correctly? How much of the plant should be buried? It's my understanding that celery is a cool weather crop, so if mine looks ready now, will it probably be bad? I only have two plants that survived, so I'm willing to give them a chance even if they may not be good.

This is my second year to grow celery. Last year I didn't know about blanching, so when it tasted bitter, we threw it out.

 

[pharmerphil]

I read that you're supposed to blanch celery for a couple of weeks before you harvest it to get rid of the bitter flavor. It sounds to me like this simply means you mound dirt up around the stalk. Do I understand this correctly? How much of the plant should be buried? It's my understanding that celery is a cool weather crop, so if mine looks ready now, will it probably be bad? I only have two plants that survived, so I'm willing to give them a chance even if they may not be good.

This is my second year to grow celery. Last year I didn't know about blanching, so when it tasted bitter, we threw it out.

unblanched celery will be more pungent, some may say bitter, but we like it.
Now, we raise around a hundred every year, and with a 6" spacing, they pretty much blanch themselves; However, in the past. when we had but a few plants, I have blanched them using the soil, as you stated, Two magazines opened at the halfway point, each put on one side of the stalk..and rubber banded together...tough but effective (try to find them something they will enjoy reading )

and, I have blanched them by wrapping in aluminum foil...adds some GLIMMER to the garden !

 

[hoodat]

You only have to blanch if you use them raw like in salads. If you use them in soups and stews I don't bother blanching. I don't like mounding dirt over them becuase you sometimes have trouble getting the dirt out from between the stalks. When I want to blanch I use brown paper bags.