Often only the bulbs and/or stalks of celery are used in the kitchen - the leaves, on the other hand, are thrown away by most amateur cooks. You should better refrain from doing this in the future, because dried celery leaves are wonderful for seasoning soups and stocks, sauces and vegetable dishes. We'll tell you how to properly dry celery leaves to preserve their intensely aromatic flavor.

Dried celery leaves are a delicious condiment

How to dry celery leaves

In principle, you have two options for drying fresh celery leaves:

  • in the air
  • in the oven

The following applies: drying in the air preserves the majority of the valuable ingredients, so it is the better option from a health point of view - but it also takes a little longer. Drying the leaves in the oven will lose some of the good stuff, but this method takes very little time.

Our tip: air-dry celery leaves if you're not in a hurry. You should only use the stove if you are under time pressure.

Air dry celery leaves

  1. Cut the leaves off your fresh celeriac.
  2. Wash them thoroughly.
  3. Then shake the leaves dry.
  4. Grab a piece of string and tie the celery leaves into a bunch.
  5. Hang the bundle in a dry and warm place.
  6. Leave the leaves to dry for about three days.
  7. Pick up the bundle.
  8. Chop the pre-dried celery leaves with a knife.
  9. Spread the chopped leaves on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
  10. Leave the celery leaves to dry in this way for eight to ten days.

tips

You can tell that the leaves are completely dry by the fact that they can easily be crumbled between your fingers.

Dry the celery leaves in the oven

  1. Preheat the oven to 100 degrees Celsius.
  2. Pluck the washed celery leaves from the stalks.
  3. Lay them out on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
  4. Turn the oven temperature back down to 60 degrees Celsius (convection).
  5. Place the tray with the celery leaves in the oven.
  6. Leave the leaves in there for ten minutes.
  7. Get the tray out of the oven.
  8. Turn the leaves on the sheet.
  9. Place the tray in the oven for another ten minutes.
  10. Repeat the process until the leaves are completely dry.
  11. Chop the dried leaves.

Store dried celery leaves optimally

Put the dried and chopped celery leaves in an airtight jar - preferably mixed with salt (ratio 40:60). The herbal salt obtained can be kept for many months.

The garden journal freshness ABC

How can fruit and vegetables be stored correctly so that they stay fresh for as long as possible?

The garden journal freshness ABC as a poster:

  • as a free PDF file to print out yourself

Category:

Vegetable garden