It’s winter so I find myself eating more soups and stews. They can be so good on a cold day.
But IMO celery tastes horrible and only subtracts from the flavor of soup by covering up other flavors. Why is it such a common ingredient? Do people actually like enjoy or is it serving some other purpose?
(Yes I avoid it in other foods too. Not to go off topic but water chestnuts are a fantastic substitute if you like the crunch. Try them instead of celery next time you make stuffing.)
Do you also think that salt is too spicy?
Celery is genuinely one of my favorite parts of soups that use them. I LOVE the flavor or celery, and it is even better when it picks up the rest of the flavors of the dish.
To answer yours and the other questions about “why this ingredient”, the answer is very simple. Some people like it.
If you don’t, then don’t use it, problem solved.
…celery has a flavor?
If “some people like it” then I would expect it in some soups. But it seems to be present in the vast majority of them, like to a disproportionate degree.
Celery contains nitrates naturally, which are carcinogenic.
I like celery, but am really interested to learn the answer here. The other ingredient that gets added to everything is onions. Fwiw I know the answer to that one: they’re full of sugar. “First, soften some onions…” is basically a way of adding sweetness to food
Yep and when those onion sugars caramelize, which adds a ton of flavor complexity. That one makes immediate sense to me. I actually like to add onions at various stages of soupmaking (for some recipes) so you get a variety of pungency and sweetness.
Celery though? I taste the same flavor whether it’s raw or cooked to mush.
If the celery in soup is crunchy or even detectible as celery, the soup is being made wrong. It should melt into the dish along with the onions and garlic. The only part of the mirepoix/trinity that should possibly be detectable should be the bell pepper or carrot, and even then they should be very broken down and no longer have a distinct flavor by themselves.
Yep, exactly. If it’s palpably in the dish then it wasn’t chopped finely enough or cooked long enough.
That’s interesting… I like getting chunks of carrot and celery in my soups. I deliberately cut them large, about as large as you can get whilst fitting on a spoon, for that reason.
Carrots get sweet when boiled in a stew, it’s lovely
I make my stock with different veggies than my soup. I’ll do a mirepoix both times but when I’m making stock I dice everything and when I make the soup I want big chewable veggies.
Sounds like OP would hate your soup
I appreciate that large chunks are easy to avoid… but that taste lingers, ew.
I 100% agree with your celery position.
And if it is done right it can add a dimension of flavor. Carrot and onion develop a bit of sweetness when cooked a while. Nothing inherently wrong with that, but it’s not exactly what you’re looking for in a bowl of chicken noodle. Celery, being disgusting when raw, doesn’t do that and helps break that pattern up.
Celery, being disgusting when raw[…]
You take that back!
You take that back!
Spiderman’s pointing
This post has nothing to do with texture. OP is complaining about the flavor of celery.
Yeah, and the flavor doesn’t stand out if it breaks down all the way. Their mention of crunch was a clue that they encounter chunks of it, which I agree are nasty in soup.
It does to some people, me included
Thanks. I think my side note about water chestnuts is throwing people off? Maybe I shouldn’t have mentioned that.
Water chestnuts are delicious though…so crunchy too
They don’t taste like yummy celery though, they taste like water chestnuts. Which don’t taste bad, it just doesn’t taste like celery.
Honestly they are usually in Asian foods Ive eaten and seem to only add crunch…but now I’m curious
40 people showing off their lack of reading comprehension by upvoting that comment.
this is the way
I hate the flavor so I still usually notice it even when it’s totally broken down beyond mush.
Raw celery’s crunchy texture is kinda nice but I agree that doesn’t go with soup.
I love celery and hate water chestnuts. Everyone’s different.
When I make soup my wife always tells me I put too much celery. I never feel like it’s enough.
I used to hate both, now I love them both. So not only are we different from each other but also from ourselves temporally.
Celery is part of the mirepoix trinity. Celery, carrots and onions , cooked low and slow in fat before adding to soup. It makes a sweet and savoury vegetable soup base.
What a day to be alive! A person called StinkyFingerItchyBum has just taught me about mirepoix. I’m disgusted, enlightened, and grateful. Thank you!
Or the Holy Trinity of Cajun and creole cooking, celery, onions, and bell pepper.
But why celery and not some other vegetable? Because it’s cheap?
It’s an aromatic vegetable: https://www.thespruceeats.com/what-are-cooking-aromatics-5223792
But so are alliums? (garlic, leeks, shallots, etc) Those can be amazing in soup.
I think at some point you may need to admit that this post is essentially “I don’t like this thing, why does everyone else?” This is subjective and cultural, not logical. You don’t have anything objective against celery, you just think it ”tastes horrid.” You’re entitled to that opinion. But I don’t understand why you seem to struggle so much with the idea that others don’t share it. Personally I think garlic is absolute magic, but I can 100% accept that others may not like it the same way, and some may be violently repelled by it. 🤷♂️
think at some point you may need to admit that this post is essentially “I don’t like this thing, why does everyone else?”
That’s true of a lot of things. My question is why it’s so extraordinarily prevalent. Onions I understand as they are very dynamic. But I have a friend who hates onions 🤷
I don’t understand why you seem to struggle so much with the idea that others don’t share it.
I don’t. Simple as that. But then again maybe I’m stupid on this topic, which is why I posted in this community.
Personally I think garlic is absolute magic, but I can 100% accept that others may not like it the same way, and some may be violently repelled by it. 🤷♂️
Totally agreed, garlic is awesome, but I know some people out there may hate it. And some like it but can’t eat it due to IBS.
Yes, and they’re often used together.
Celery is cold tolerant and can be grown/harvested in winter, IIRC. That might also be a factor in why it’s prevalent in soups?
You also use alliums and celery together to get a more complex and tasty flavor than either will give alone.
No, because it has a delightful flavour for soups. Eating celery is blah, but in soups its magic. My memory is failing me, but I could have sworn celery was a source of glutamate.
The glutamine wiki says celery is a source.
Yes, I genuinely enjoy the flavor of celery and distinctly miss the flavor when it’s absent. I grew up eating it raw with peanut butter, or melted/spreadable cheese. I grew up thinking it mostly tasted like water and was just a good vehicle for other flavors, but as my palate developed I noticed, and loved, the flavor more and more. In soups especially.
They say it takes something like twelve tries of a new flavor for your body to stop being afraid of it and actually enjoy it, and that most disliked foods are this kind of instinctual rejection. Maybe just try to force it a dozen times? I know that’s not pleasant advice, and I only recommend it if avoiding celery is something that will cause you life difficulties, such as in social situations.
I’m learning today celery has an actual flavor…and I’m perfectly aware of mirepoix.
Same experience, just crunchy water or when cooked down will soak up whatever flavor you give it. Have also grown to recognize and enjoy the flavor even more but it’s still just incredibly mild/subtle unless eating it straight up. Coincidentally I feel the same way as the people complaining about it but with bell peppers or fennel instead. Chicken salad, soups and stews, Chinese food, all delicious with celery and onion combo. I’ll even substitute celery for a green veg in something like a curry instead of peas which I find too sweet, for example. I got the yummy cilantro gene too lol perception and sensitivity are a hell of a thing
I grew up eating it raw with peanut butter
I did too. Sometimes people would call it “ants on a log” and stick a few raisins on top. The celery crunch was nice but I always wanted maximum PB to cover the flavor. Later I realized it was way better without the celery at all, like just on bread (as PB&J of course).
Anyway, I’ve definitely crossed the dozen threshold. Probably ten dozen. I’m always picking it out of my meal when I try a new Chinese dish.
Celery is used because it’s cheap…and it’s bitter balancing onions and other cheap stock items that tend to be sweet. A stock shouldn’t be sweet or bitter because it’s something you “work up”.
“Everybody” doesn’t use it tho. Some stocks are “garbage can” stocks, using whatever unservable scraps that come from food preparation…others are from ingredients purchased to make the stock like a Mirpoix (the most common stock base that uses celery).
There are lots of people like you that say celery ruins stock…there are many others that say bell peppers ruin stock…but then there are core stocks made from bell peppers.
Just do what tastes good.
Water Chestnuts are a fantastic substitute if you like the crunch.
Your opinion of celery vs water chestnuts is apparently the exact reverse of mine.
I still have strong memories of a dish my mother used to make a few times a year that prominently included water chestnuts and the sinking feeling I would get as I took my first bite. Blegh
Cool, wish I could trade ya.
As someone who disliked celery in the past, I still find it enriches vegetable soups a lot. And by now I actually like the taste of cooked(!) celery. So yes, I would say most people just like it.
It’s one of the those aromatic vegetables (along with carrots and onions, etc. ) that for most people (obviously not yourself) adds a background flavor that is not overpowering or offensive. It makes your soup taste like soup instead of salty chicken-water or bean-water. Its also fairly inexpensive compared to more meats and spices.
I guess? My soup tastes like soup (according to my partner anyway) without any celery.
But she had a canned soup earlier today and she didn’t notice the celery. I took one bite and noticed it immediately. So this may be at least half true.
I don’t care for crunch in soup, but a like the celery flavor. I’ve added celery seeds to things I don’t want actual celery in. I’ll make stock with celery, onions, and carrots, and then strain them out.
I’m asking why it’s in so many canned soups and restaurant soups and even recipes. By all means make whatever you like at home.
I don’t understand what you don’t understand. It’s in so many soups and recipes because people like it. Most people love chocolate, but there are a small number of people who hate it. Different people have different tastes. It could be genetic, it could be a bad association that built up in your formative years, or whatever.
If all it comes down to just a matter of taste, that’s fine I guess. But before this thread I don’t think I’d ever heard anyone say they like celery in a dish or seek it out or appreciate its flavor or anything.
This is the beauty of the Internet! And all of us on the other side can discover that some people like you don’t like celery in soup, which is an alien concept to many of us!
Hooray mutual understanding! Thanks for posing the question.
Haha, right on. Cheers for a digital window outside our local bubbles, friend 🍻
Because it’s a very popular, traditional ingredient in a lot of soups. You would have the same problem if you didn’t like onions or carrots.
So the foundation of european soups is the combination of celery, carrot, and onion. These provide the base that most recipes are based on and are the only required ingredients in a vegetable broth outside of spices. As with many food things you can blame the french.
As with many food things you can blame the french.
Been waiting for that answer lol
Finally, someone else who hates celery.
Everyone I know loves it, and puts it in everything.
Have you considered that everyone you know are actually rabbits in disguise?
I have considered this, as the only reason anyone would willingly eat celery.
I used to hate it when I was a kid but I quite enjoy it now. Same with cinnamon.
Found the rabbit
Not sure if anyone answered the actual question but a reason celery is included is, in addition to being part of the traditional mirepoix, because the pectin content breaks down and results in a just so slightly thicker stock
That’s the kind of answer I was looking for, thanks!
I wonder how much pectin is in peppers? I usually think of it coming from fruit and botanically those technically are.
Commercial pectin products often come from processed apple skins, and some other fruits but mostly from the skins anyway, so you’re spot on
No idea if peppers will replicate the stock texture of celery but I imagine it can’t matter too much. You probably have to be extremely sensitive and test a lot of samples to tell the difference for that kind of subtle texture
I personally like celery so I don’t share your problem but I rely more on boiled potatoes anyway in my soups/stews for the starch as a mild thickener. I also love potatoes (:
Edit: here’s a source I used https://pickyourown.org/pectin_levels_in_fruit.php
