Celery: Green, Leafy and Crunchy!

Celery is a biennial plant: it's life cycle is two years long. The first year you get what we know as celery (stalks and leafs) and the second year, you get flowers and eventually seeds at the end of the stalks. It belongs to the same family as carrots, fennel, parsley and dill.

Did you know that celery is an excellent source vitamin C and contains numerous other phytonutrients promoting health? Let's look at some of these.

Vitamin C containing foods, like celery, help reduce cold symptoms or at least their severity. It also prevents free radical damage triggering inflammatory responses. Therefore, it is helpful in conditions like asthma, osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. Vitamin C also prevent free radicals from oxidizing cholesterol, reducing plaques that may rupture causing heart disease. So we can see that vitamin C also helps in heart health.

Celery contains phthalides, which relax muscles around the arteries, allowing dilation. This lowers blood pressure. This vegetable also contains good quantities of potassium, calcium and magnesium. And don't worry about the reputed high level of sodium in celery: two stalks contain only 4 percent of your daily recommended intake. It would take 48 stalks (or 24 cups) of celery to get the 2,400 mg suggested by the FDA.

Coumarins are also found in celery. These help prevent free radical damage to cells, diminishing the risk of cancerous growths. Coumarins also enhance the activity of white blood cells, immune defenders of the body. Acetylenics, compounds present in celery, have also been shown to stop the growth of tumour cells.

When shopping for celery choose crisp stalks that snap easily. The bunch should be compact and tight. Look for fresh leaves, without any yellowing or browning. Select nicely green celery stalks (as opposed to pale green stalks) for optimal nutritional value. Store your celery in a plastic bag in the fridge.

Want a nice way to eat that wonderful celery? Try this Fancy Celery & Apple Salad.
Last Updated on Friday, 12 February 2010 15:23