Have you ever wondered how to store celery?

Celery, with its crisp stalks and refreshing flavor, is a staple in many kitchens. Whether you’re adding it to soups, salads, or enjoying it as a crunchy snack, keeping celery fresh and readily available is important. 

Proper storage is key to maximizing the life of your celery, preventing food waste, and ensuring you always have this versatile vegetable on hand.

Related: 8 Ways to Prevent Food Waste

This blog is sponsored by Duda Farm Fresh Foods.

Storing celery is also important to help optimize its nutritional value. Like all fresh produce, celery retains its nutritional value best when stored properly. Proper storage helps celery maintain its vitamin and mineral content.

Below we have laid out a 7-step process to help ensure that your celery stays fresh long after you bring it home from the grocery store.

Related: Celery – How to Use this Ingredient To Strech Your Family’s Food Budget

Step One: Rinse Celery

When you buy a bunch of celery or a celery heart that’s wrapped in a plastic bag, it’s important to rinse it before trimming and washing the stalks. Simply rinse the base under cold running water for 5 seconds rubbing off any visible dirt at the root base with your hands.

Related: How to Properly Wash Fruits and Vegetables

Step 2: Cut Celery Root

Use a sharp knife to cut off the bottom 1-2 inches of the bunch. Discard the root base.

Step 3: Wash Celery

The most efficient way to wash celery after cutting off the root base is to fill your kitchen sink with 4-5 inches of clean, cold water. 

Then, pull the stalks apart, and place them in the water. Finally, use your fingers to rub the stalks to remove any dust or dirt adhering to them. 

Step 4: Dry Celery

Use a clean kitchen towel or paper towel to wipe excess moisture from the celery stalks. You will want to make sure they are dry before moving to the next step.

Step 5: Trim Celery

It is important to trim celery before storage. You will want to trim about ¼-inch off the top of each stalk.

You can use the trimmed ends for making vegetable broth, soups, stews, and other recipes that call for celery that is cooked. 

If there are leaves on any of the stalks, trim them off and store them separately. Trimming off the leaves extends the shelf-life of the stalks. 

The leaves and tender, center stalks can be wrapped in damp paper towels, stored in a loosely closed zip-top bag, stored in the refrigerator, and then used in salads or for cooking dishes like soups, stews, and chilis.

Related: How To Cut Celery 7 Different Ways

Step 6: Wrap Celery

You will want to wrap the celery leaves separately from the stalks. Lay a row of cut stalks into a single layer on a clean, damp paper towel. The damp paper towels help keep the celery crisp. Simply place the paper towels under fresh running water, and then gently wring them out before wrapping the celery.

Then, place them in a zip-top storage bag. However, don’t close the bag completely. You will want to allow some airflow so that the celery can “breathe.”  Yes, fresh produce like celery breathes or respires after harvest. 

Step 7: Store Celery

Finally, you will want to store your cleaned, wrapped celery and celery leaves in a produce crisper drawer or on a shelf in the middle of your refrigerator.  You will want to avoid the doors and top shelves because they tend to have the greatest swings in temperature. It is important to maintain a constant temperature of approximately 33 to 40°F. 

The Dandy® Celery Difference

Andrew Duda started farming on 40 acres of land almost 100 years ago. He decided to grow celery because it’s 100% usable, which means no waste. With six generations of growers, they care about the quality of the produce they feed their families. And they want you to have the freshest, crunchiest celery on your table too.

Dandy celery is naturally sweeter, crispier, and less stringy than other celery brands on store shelves, and its fresh-cut options are perfect for convenient snacking and meal prep.

From seed to shelf, they pay attention to using as little land as possible to give you the best celery while reducing water usage by a third. Dandy is on a mission to help more families like yours enjoy affordable produce at premium quality. They’re a family-focused company you can trust.

Look for the Dandy® label in the produce section of your grocery store.

Our Favorite Celery Recipes

• Old Fashioned Potato Salad
• Celery Pesto Pasta
• Buffalo Celery & Chicken Wontons
• Celery Soup with Bacon
• Thai Celery Bowls
• Celery Fennel Salad