By Joel Denker
The ancient plant loved the wet soil near the sea. Wild celery drank the water from the salty marshes and tidal flats along the Mediterranean. Celery’s affinity for water gives it crispness.
The plant, which still grows today in damp terrain, was originally savored as a tangy herb, not a vegetable. Unlike today’s domesticated celery, “water parsley,” as it was sometimes called, had thin, hollow stalks. Its fibrous texture and sharp, pungent flavor would repel modern consumers accustomed to our tender, sweeter vegetable.
Chinese celery, found in many Asian markets, is the contemporary variety most similar to the wild herb. Fragrant and leafy with skinny stems, it is primarily used for cooking, not for snacking. It is grown more widely throughout the world than the standard garden variety.
To the Greeks and Romans, who picked it in the wild, celery’s strong scent and bitter taste made the herb all the more attractive. The plant’s aromatic seeds and leaves were particularly prized.
Celery grew in the landscapes that Greek authors drew in their tales. In Homer’s Iliad, horses nibbled on its leaves and shoots in the marshes of Troy. The cave of Calypso in the Odyssey was surrounded by meadows of celery in violet flower.
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To learn more about celery, see The Carrot Purple and Other Curious Stories of the Food We Eat, coming in October from Rowman & Littlefield: https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781442248861/The-Carrot-Purple-and-Other-Curious-Stories-of-the-Food-We-Eat.
