Dehydrating celery is pretty simple and almost doesn’t deserve its own post except that the results are pretty darn amazing, so I’m posting it anyway. Unfortunately, when I dried this last batch I was in a bit of a hurry and didn’t even take the time to take pictures until the end, so really all you get to see is the results.
Celery doesn’t need to be blanched or anything, just washed, cut up, and put on the trays. I used the same V-slicer I used for the carrots so the slices wouldn’t be too thin. I ran a bunch of stalks through at the same time. Okay, I cheated and didn’t even take the stalks off the plant before I started slicing. That way the whole celery plant was sliced up in a matter of about 30 seconds which was about how much time I had to spend on this project. Then I put the slices on the dehydrator trays and dried them at 125 until they were crispy. Overnight worked great although it may not even take that long. The good thing about drying something until it’s crispy is that it’s tough to over dry it. When the celery was all dried, the whole plant of celery fit in half of a pint jar. Seriously amazing.
Dehydrated celery is perfect for soups and casseroles. It doesn’t re-hydrate well into celery you could make ants-on-a-log out of, but for cooked dishes it is perfect. So don’t let your celery go soggy in the bottom of your fridge–get it on the dehydrator and preserve it for another day’s meal.
Keep preparing! Angela
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A couple of years ago a friend of mine grew celery.. and I mean she GREW celery, like a 25' row of celery. She canned it, they ate it, and then there was still CELERY! In the end she asked if I would like a little… Naively I said yes! Well I got CELERY all right! A box of celery… a bushel box of celery. So I pulled out my handy dandy dehydrator and dried it… stalks and leaves alike. Once everything was said and done I had 2 (TWO) one gallon jars of celery plus 3 quart jars of the crushed leaves. And I still have dried celery… but it is great in soups!
(In fact her Christmas present this year is DRIED celery as she has does not have a dehydrator and they live off the grid and we moved…)
Do you dry onions also? Or leeks?
Holy Celery, girl! A little bit of dried celery goes a long way, that's for sure!
I do dry onions. Here's a post: http://selfrelianceadventures.blogspot.com/2009/05/dehydrating-onions.html
–In fact I've got a bunch of those from the garden in a box in my kitchen that need a home and will probably go the way of the dehydrator before too long! Love having them on hand.
I have dried celery before because Phil hates it and if I dry it I can sneak it into my soups and things. I also love using the dried leaves in all sorts of dishes.
I know I don't comment much, but I have to tell you that I've learned more useful stuff by my frequent visits here, than I have anywhere else I wander on the internet.
Just wanted you to know that, and say THANKS! :)
I have never tried celery, but it will happen soon. It is amazing how small it is. It reminds me of the storage bags sold on TV. Just hook up the vacuum cleaner and it sucks all the air out.
I dry my celery then grind it up in my “spice grinder” aka coffee grinder, and use it instead of celery salt. I love how sweet smelling celery is when its drying
Making your own celery salt is fine, but I want people to know that it is highly concentrated sodium. I’ve seen other sites where people deny that celery is high in sodium, but it is when dried, and it should be considered as salt. Those who must watch their sodium intake think that because it is celery that it is low sodium, but the opposite is true. Fresh celery is OK for a sodium restricted diet, but celery salt is not any better than table salt.
It would only be a high level of sodium if one added salt to the ground up celery, I would think. I believe Jessica was talking of using ONLY the dried celery in place of celery salt (not adding salt to it). Basically using celery powder, alone.
We are grinding the leafs & sea-salt for “celery salt’ as I type. Stalks are being vacuum packed. Of course it is home grown and dehydrated.
BTW, instead of giving away all the excess cukes this summer, we dehydrated them and made cuke powder/salt, great in a winter salad.
Could you please tell me what a “v-slicer” is?
They are also called mandoline slicers. Extremely sharp manual food slicers. Mine is a Borner like this one: Swissmar Borner V-1001 V-Slicer Plus Mandoline 6 Piece Set
Can you dehydrate in a regular oven?
What a great idea!
I have found that wrapping the celery bunch in aluminum foil, ensuring that the ends are closed, that celery stays fresh and crunchy for weeks.