keep celery fresh for weeks

If you're anything like me you buy celery with the best intentions and then a week later it's soft, oddly colored and a little funky. I love celery, but I just don't use it all that often. This is a trick I found on the internets for keeping celery fresh that actually works!

Step 1: What you need:

It's simple! Two things: - celery - aluminum foil

Comments

[MartinMakes]

Nice one.

[kmcdowell4]

hai.. FYI: if you cut off the bottom.. you can put it in a bowl of water and grow more lettus :) thanks for sharing this

[feliica]

Do you think this trick would apply to other vegetables?

[macgyver71]

I've kept carrots that way. Best way to find out is to try it with a few pieces of whatever veg you have in mind (don't do the whole batch, in case it doesn't hold out).

[Katie5757]

Take the tops off carrots, the leaves also draw out the water.
Put them in a vented plastic bag, and they are there for life..

[macgyver71]

When I wrap in Alum, I do lop the tops (sorry I ommitted that). They do keep a very long time in the vented plastic (tiny-holed bags the grocers put them out in), but the foil almost seems crisper. I should preface that with: the wife & kids say they can't tell, so it might be wishful thinking on my part. :)
But lopping the leaves off is a MUST, thank you for pointing that out! :)

[dropkick]

It also works with green peppers and broccoli, but most other vegetables require different environments. Lettuce will last and stay crisp in a closed plastic bag if you package it with a paper towel (to absorb moisture) and occasionally let some fresh air into the bag. Carrots often do well with no container or in a paper bag (old limp carrots can be made crisp again by soaking in ice water for an hour or two). Asperagas lasts best if you treat it like it was a flower and put the open ends of the stems in water (in the refrigerator) and then cover the tops with plastic. Tomatoes should be kept stem side down, in a paper bag. Mushrooms should always be in a paper bag, not plastic.

[dropkick]

It also works with green peppers and broccoli, but most other vegetables require different environments. Lettuce will last and stay crisp in a closed plastic bag if you package it with a paper towel (to absorb moisture) and occasionally let some fresh air into the bag. Carrots often do well with no container or in a paper bag (old limp carrots can be made crisp again by soaking in ice water for an hour or two). Asperagas lasts best if you treat it like it was a flower and put the open ends of the stems in water (in the refrigerator) and then cover the tops with plastic. Tomatoes should be kept stem side down, in a paper bag. Mushrooms should always be in a paper bag, not plastic.

[macgyver71]

Yeah, asparagus kept in a container of water stay great (ramekins work awesome for that), and lettuce can get finicky...Didn't think about them. Only spot I differ is tomatoes...I was always taught to keep them out of the fridge. (sorry if it sidetracks to original post)

[maxhuey]

been trying to avoid aluminum product as much as I could, research shows aluminum in the hair of Alzheimer victim.

[demxod8]

judging from your profile picture I would say aluminum is the least of your concerns. :)

[maxhuey]

hehehe... you are probably right, but I can't remember why? Alzheimer kicked in?

[ManifoldSky]

Aluminum has nothing to do with Alzheimer's.

[maxhuey]

It all depends on who you talk to. For example if you talk to the foil industry, that is what they will say. Even some "independent" medical research will agree with what you said. For years that is what I knew until I started to read a few medical reports (not internet hear say) and some autopsy report. I am not the one to decide if ,Aluminum has anything to do with Alzheimer but let just say after reading those reports, I'd rather be on the side of caution. Google is your friend.

[ManifoldSky]

There is no empirical evidence, independent or otherwise, that supports this contention. There is not need to consult Google. I worked
In the field of neuroscience, and keep up to date on the research. The aluminum issue was out to bed a decade ago.

[maxhuey]

You could be right, I still doubt it though... :-)

[ManifoldSky]

Well, it really is not an issue of right or wrong. It certainly could be that all the evidence is mistaken, and that aluminum actually does play a role. The fact is, however, that currently there really is no evidence at all to support this hypothesis. What few studies have been done that suggest such a link have either failed to be replicated, or have multiple interpretations that fail to definitively indicate any role for aluminum. In addition, the positive results of trials of drugs that interact with amyloid plaques and/or neurofibroid tangles, that have no known interaction with aluminum, also point in a different direction.

[maxhuey]

Let's just say - I don't like the taste of aluminum molecule, I am different! Just look at my photo... LOL but, you are more than welcome to eat all the aluminum you want...

[Katie5757]

Cut the leaves off your celery.. these are what "expire" the water content. Place in a plastic bag, and there you go for a month or more.
Actually who wants to keep celery for a month.. I de-leave it, wash it (leaves and all), cut the stalks in to 2 or three, and use it as wanted.

[GitarGr8]

Thanks, I was wondering if it was the foil that did something special. I use your method to store celery as well after I got tired of wasting so much food after I make a batch of soup.

[HelenaTroy]

I'm now-and-then with celery, too - and I've thrown away more than I've eaten - there's only so much you can force-feed yourself in a few days. Ill definitely try this, thanks for shaing

[ccesclk]

You can also plant the bottom of the celery that you cut off. It will grow and give you fresh celery in about 4 weeks.

[tayzzmom]

If memory serves, in the 50s or 60s, Tupperware made a tall container just to store celery in. You stood it up in water and it kept for quite a while. I remember my mom doing that. This is a great instructable and aluminum foil is a lot cheaper than Tupperware nowadays....lol!

[don34685]

Great idea! I'll try it the next time I buy celery (soon, ham and bean soup is calling). Thanks.

[Sunflowergurl]

I put my in a jug of mineral water and put it in the fridge, and it keeps for a long time but I eat a lot of it most days, so the longest I've kept it like this in about one and half weeks and it's still very fresh and crispy.

[WoundedEgo]

It might be good to put a paper towel between the celery and the foil to absorb moisture.

I take the bottom of the celery and put it in water until it sprouts a root and then plant it and grow new celery. It roots very easily.

[linny]

definitely. The paper towel trick works also for stalks of asparagus.

[lnxusr]

I trim the ends of my asparagus and put them in a mason jar with water in the fridge. Keeps them fresh well over a week.

I do this with cilantro and parsley too, but I don't keep them in the fridge. They'll last three weeks or more sitting on the counter like this. Just change the water every couple of days or so.

[gnach]

Mine's wilting too!
-thanks for the tip.

[Cmdrdpaul]

Same with the fresh corn tortillas I buy at the tatorilla as well as cheese etc. retards the growth of mold. But I wasn't using it on my celery, I will now though Thanks

[linny]

Thanks for this tip, but, why not eat veggies while fresh instead! Variation: try cutting celery stalks into ½ inch slices and marinate them in a thinned-down (with vineagar) salad dressing/homemade curry & mustard dressing. Drain them after several hours and toss these marinated celery slices in a salad or serve as a side dish. Don't try to save veggies, instead buy them in lesser quantities - if you can - and eat them right away. Unless you live 10 mi. or more from a store and have to stock up, I think it is best to eat food while it's fresh.

[TheOneTrueStickman]

That would be great if my store sold smaller quantities of celery. Unfortunately, the smallest bunches they sell are about the size of Jessie's, so even though I drive past said store on the way to work every day keeping the celery I've got fresh is the far more economical option.

Having said that, if I had space for a some fresh growing celery I'd do give that a try instead.

[GrumpyOldGoat]

There are some GREAT space saving designs for Hydroponic and Aquaponic systems right here in beautiful downtown Instructables.com

[glazzEye]

Do you know why this works?

[WoundedEgo]

Celery is your colon's broom. It cleans out your innards with all that fiber.

[shyrell]

Amazing! I've never thought of that. I have to try it. Thanks!

[WriterChick]

This is great, and thanks for sharing! No more rubbery-celery soup for me, or from me.

[valkgurl]

While I can't answer to the "science" behind this where celery is grown it is actually grown in a trench in the ground. To a certain height it is open to the air then it is covered over in sandy soil!

This as I have been told serves two purposes--to "blanch" the celery because apparently too dark celery is a "no no" and also to help it firm up and stay upright and crisp. So the actual covering might have something to do with the plants natural or bred into it "need" for darkness and support.

Just a guess. Maybe some one from the Eastern PA area will stop by (where a lot of celery is grown!) and explain more.

Wonder if this would work for leeks?

[valkgurl]

OH--Might you have any preservation "tips" for broccoli and summer squash type things? We have a bearded dragon and feed him these but no one else in the household can stand them so often even buying small quantities goes to waste if no one remembers to give them to the guinea pigs and degu. I know--it's complicated. Surely if some one made a guinea pig operated refrigerator door opener and ladder deployment system the whole problem would be solved. But would they share with the degu? Hmmmm.....

[linny]

Like your humor. Well, I'm sorry you don't have a taste for broccoli & summer squash yet, so we fix this, by disguising it, starting with the ends! Don't know how your broccoli is sold ( I live in Denmark where it is shrink-wrapped in film) I cut the end off of a head of broccoli - to keep the rest of the head fresh - when I get it home, grate the cut-off END of it & stir fry it w. onions, sprinkle seasoning on it, maybe some curry & serve with rice.
You can do this with any veggie.
Let him eat the broccoli bouquets himself, your broccoli-lover. Or learn to throw tiny raw broccoli bouquets in your salad. Yes, I'm trying to convert you...
Try either of these with melted cheese and fried ground beef.