Last week we received some beautiful, leafy celery in our CSA - but it was a little bitter. I tried to think of what I could do to mellow the flavor a bit and I decided to do a test with some of the leaves. So, I dried some in the oven hoping that would do the trick. Once they were dried and I tasted the little leaves I fell in love.

They tasted like little celery stalks and they weren't bitter at all. Then I tasted another leaf, and realized what made it so delicious - it reminded me of a Bloody Mary. So I tossed a bunch of the leaves with sea salt and now we have homemade celery salt for soups, stews and (this makes Jedd very happy) Bloody Marys.

Homemade Celery Salt

1/4 cup of celery leaves

3 tablespoons of sea salt

Preheat the oven to 350.

Wash the celery leaves, towel dry them, then place the leaves in a single layer in a baking pan on top of the stove. (The heat from the oven will evaporate the residual water.) Once the leaves are completely dry (about 10 minutes) place the pan in the oven. Bake for 5 minutes. Let the leaves cool and then mix with sea salt. Store the celery salt in a clean jar with a lid, or in a plastic bag.

(Photos by Launie Kettler)

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