If you buy a bunch of celery for a recipe but don't use it all, you might think you're out of luck and have to throw your fresh celery away. But that's not necessarily the case with these veggies. In fact, freezing celery is possible if you have leftover celery and want to save money by not tossing it out before you have a chance to use it.
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How Do You Freeze Celery?
Frozen celery can be used in some recipes, but be warned: it will lose its crispness, so for any dish that might be affected by, stick to celery stalks and chopped celery that is as fresh as possible.
First, you're going to want to wash and chop the celery, according to Eating Well. You should take the extra step of making your leftovers into cut celery because it's not as easy to chop up on a cutting board once it's been in the freezer.
Then, you should consider blanching the celery if you don't think you'll use it up quickly. "This extra, easy step helps preserve the veggie's color, flavor, and texture," Eating Well notes. Blanched celery can also "be frozen for up to a year — unblanched celery can only be frozen for up to two months," the outlet points out.
To blanch the veggie, put on a pot of water to boil and set out a bowl of ice water, Spruce Eats directs. Then put the celery in the boiling water for three minutes before cooling it down in the cold water. Pat the celery dry, then put it in the freezer to flash freeze it.
Freezing the Celery
To keep the pieces from freezing together, spread it on a baking sheet and freeze for a few hours or until it's hard. Then, set it in an airtight container like a freezer bag or Ziploc bag, squeeze out the air, seal it, label it, and let it freeze!
To use the frozen celery, you won't have to go through thawing it out before throwing it in hot dishes like soups, stews, stuffing, or stock. Simply take it out of the freezer and you're good to go!
Freezing celery is just another way to limit your food waste, and shouldn't we all be striving to do that if we can?
