Homemade Celery Powder {Recipe}

Swainway Urban Farm grew beautiful, strong celery this year. The stalks were dense in flavor and texture and sold with the abundant tops. This variety isn't well suited to eating as a veggie stick but perfect for cooking. I roasted it, added it to stock, and made a cream of  celery soup that even satisfied picky Lil. One bunch of celery yielded almost eight cups of leaves. Thanks to my friend and fellow farmers' market junkie Jenn, I knew just what to do with them so that I could savor the local organic celery flavor for months to come.

I made a spice!*

After a simple wash, zip in the hated food processor, and 12 hours in the dehydrator, the kelly green leaves reduced to mere ounces of dried celery powder.

Celery powder, like celery itself, is a natural source of sodium nitrate. Sodium nitrate is what turns into sodium nitrite in our digestive system. And sodium nitrite is the reason bacon tastes like bacon and corned beef tastes like corned beef - it's antimicrobial and piquant and completely delicious.

Anything you cook with a sprinkle of celery powder becomes more tasty. Add some to a rub for meat or a stew for another layer of flavor. Keep it on hand for soups when you run out of celery. Make it a part of dressings, sauces, and dips. I aim for my pantry to never be without celery powder again.

Celery Powder Makes: 2 ounces Time: 12.5 hours total, 20 minutes active

8 cups celery leaves (very fresh, organic celery is best because it has the best flavor) 1/2 cup water

1. Wash celery leaves and place in food processor while damp. 2. Pulse in the food processor, adding up to 1/2 cup water, until leaves are finely chopped into a thick puree. 3. Spread in a thin layer on fruit leather tray in a dehydrator. (It may be possible to dry the puree in a very low oven on a parchment- or silicone- lined cookie sheet.) 4. Dehydrate for 8-12 hours at the dehydrator's lowest setting, stirring to ensure that all leaves are dehydrated completely. 5. Crumble in your fingers as you fill a spice jar with the powder. For a finer powder, mill in a mortar and pestle.

*Semantics among you might argue that celery powder is a dried herb. But I put it in a spice jar in the spice drawer, so I'm calling it a spice.

Plant Your Trash

I am the first to admit that I love free food. It's one of the chief reasons that I garden - I can make a salad with no exchange of money. What's even better than paying for garden seeds is getting these for free too. Most of us toss viable plant starts into the trash or compost bin regularly.

Alex captured me rescuing a pineapple top from my parent's trash. Settle a pineapple in a container filled with soil and it will sprout roots and continue to grow. I have kept pineapples as house plants for years and have yet to coax one to fruit, but others report it is possible.

Ever found a garlic clove that is sprouted? Chefs reject these because the garlic itself can be bitter. Pop that sprouted garlic in soil (indoors or out) and the greens will grow. Viola! Garlic chives!

Whereas most fruit pits do nothing in the soil, an avocado pit will sprout a thick stem and long green leaves in a container. The plant will not fruit without a graft of a producing tree, but an avocado makes a great house plant.

My latest experiment in compost gardening is celery. I planted the base of a store-bought celery stalk approximately 2 inches under the soil in one of our outdoor raised beds. Guess what started peaking through this week? Celery leaves! Even if the plant doesn't produce thick stalks, I know the leaves will be tasty in soup or salad.

Obviously, traditional garden plants that produce well will be grown from quality seeds. But if you have a little extra soil, it can't hurt to grow some unusual plants for free from your food waste!

I am this month's Once A Month Mom Get Real guest blogger and my first post - Edible Gardening Basics - is up. I hope you will read and follow the discussion!

First Seeds Started!

I have had leek and celery packets in my seed stash for two years now. By the time I'm starting all the other seeds I realize I am too late for those. This year, Kate shared a perpetual garden calendar that reminded me I can start leeks indoors now. By the way, I totally covet that calendar! The seeds will grow under lights for 10-12 weeks to be transfered outside before the last frost date of May 1.

I thumb my nose at you, winter weather! Spring is coming and when it does, I will grow leeks and celery!

What spring things are you awaiting?