Leaf Celery Better Than Celery

 KITCHEN GARDEN

Leaf Celery

Scientific Name:Apium graveolens var. secalinum

Plant family: Apiaceae

Common Name: Parcel

A relatively uncommon or even unkown herb or vegetable. Parcel stems from the idea that it looks like parsley but tastes like celery.

• Leaf celery is a biennial plant growing to 60cm in height.

Biennial simply means that leaf celery grows vegetatively during the first year and fruits (seeds) and dies  at the end of the second year.

Leaf celery could be classified as a herb because the leaves are used just as much as the stalks in cooking.

Personally I wouldn't be without my leaf celery because it's a great substitute for the harder to grow culinary celery. 

I use it for making sugo, the tradition Italian tomato base for a lot of traditional dishes such as lasagne and bolognese.

Sugo For Sure-How to Make it

Sugo is made by first finely chopping onion, celery and carrot that frying for a few minutes until softer. Then adding the garlic and tomatoes to make a tomato base for any Italian dish.

Leaf celery stalks in my garden

However, if you like munching on celery stalks, or using them in Waldorf salads, it's not a substitute in that instance. 

The stalks of leaf celery are much thinner and hollow and have a more pungent taste ( to my liking) that normal culinary celery.

This winter I have practically depleted my supply of leaf celery because of the number of soups, and slow cooked meals I have been preparing. It’s just a great flavouring herb.

Leaf celery in flower in my garden

Easy Peasy Celery Salt

Celery salt can also be made from the seeds. Simply let one plant go to flower and set seed. Then once dried in situ, collect the seeds and crush them.

• Corinne suggests dehydrating the leaves to make celery leaf salt.

Corinne Mossati, founder of  www.thegourmanticgarden.com

  has further suggestions.

• Chop the stems and leaves and make a compound celery butter.

We both recommend growing leaf celery as a cut and come again herb or vegetable and an alternative to the larger stalked celery.
Much easier to grow too.

So let’s find out more by listening to the podcast.



If you have any feedback email realworldgardener@gmail.com or write in to 2RRR PO Box 644 Gladesville NSW 1675

Spice It Up with the Right Cardamom

 SPICE IT UP

Know Your Cardamoms.

There are many budding chefs and cooks that use heaps of spices in their recipes going by the success of cooking shows on television.

Green and brown cardamom pods

Indian, Asian and Mexican cooking particularly calls for a wide selection of these different spices.

Some spices though come in a variety of  grades, colours and uses making it possible for the unsuspecting cook to make a blunder.

This may not necessarily result in a vast difference in the final flavour, but it can make your creation not as 'flavoursome' as it should be.

Brown Chinese Cardamom

Brown (black) Indian cardamom (right)

Would you say you ever used cardamom pods or cardamom?

Did you know that there are different coloured cardamoms?

Cardamom pods are one such spice that comes a variety of colours and suit different cuisines.

So if you think there’s just the one, you may have been doing your recipes and cooking a disservice.

• So which one should you use?

Ian Hemphill says the default cardamom is the green cardamom pod. Inside are little black to brown seeds which is the important part of the pod.

There are a couple of other cardamoms. 

Brown cardamom-Indian and Chinese

• The brown Indian cardamom is a much larger pod than the green cardamom by 4-5 times the size. This cardamom has a smoky aroma and is especially used in tandoori dishes.
• Chinese cardamom is usually used whole.

White Cardamom-be careful that you are actually get the real deal white cardamom and not bleached old cardamoms.

Thai cardamom is the genuine white cardamom.

White cardamom is hard to source.

If you are cooking Thai dishes that call for this cardamom you may substitute green cardamom but half the quantity.

NOTE: Cardamom is also used in sweet dishes such as this cardamom scented rice pudding (pictured), cardamom cake and cardamom biscuits. Definitely use the sweet or green cardamom and not the brown cardamom!

* Ian’s big tip is never grind the pods and seeds together.*

Let’s find out more by listening to the podcast.

PLAY: Know Your Cardamoms_12th August 2022

Marianne (host of Real World Gardener radio show) is Ian Hemphill from www.herbies.com.au

Hopefully that’s set you on the right path to using the correct coloured cardamoms in your cooking.

If you have any questions you can email us Realworldgardener@gmail.com or write in to 2rrr, PO Box 644 Gladesville NSW 1675.

Choosing Fresh Flowers

 TALKING FLOWERS   

Tips on Choosing the Freshest Flowers

Do you regularly buy a bunch of fresh flowers to brighten up your home?

Do you find that no matter which ones you buy, you just can't seem to get them to last past a few days, but friends regularly boast about how their flowers last for over a week?

Sometimes I cringe when I see a bunch of flowers outside some supermarkets because I know what signs to look for that tell me whether or not they’re really fresh.

But could you tell how fresh a bunch of flowers are when you see them for sale?

Some of the top tips are

• Keep your flowers away from the fresh bowl of fruit.

The reason is because fruit, particularly ripe bananas give off ethylene which hastens the demise of your fresh flowers.  If you think about it, placing a firm pear next to a banana in the fruit bowl, makes it soften up really quickly.

• Feel the stems to see if they’re fresh and not slimy.

Slimy stems stems means they've been sitting around for more than a few day. If you can't feel the stems that cast a close eye on the actual petals and ask yourself, " are the petals showing any signs of curling or browning at the edges,?" If the answer is 'yes' then move onto the next bunch.

• Avoid buying flowers from the roadside.

Roadside flowers have inhaled all those exhaust fumes and that's a speedy way to make them fade.

Don’t worry, Nadine Brown will tell us how lots more .



I'm talking with Nadine Brown floral educator of www.theivyinstitute.com.au
If you like buying fresh flowers you should listen to the podcast.

If you have any questions you can email us Realworldgardener@gmail.com or write in to 2rrr, PO Box 644 Gladesville NSW 1675.