Can You Freeze Celery? What Is the Best Way to Preserve It?

Celery is loaded with fiber and other beneficial plant compounds called antioxidants. You can freeze celery as soon as possible after you harvest it or buy it.

Like all vegetables, celery is loaded with fiber and other beneficial plant compounds called antioxidants. It's also low in sodium and calories. Doctors recommend eating a diet high in fruits and vegetables and low in cholesterol and saturated fat to prevent heart disease and some types of cancer. Celery fits the bill and can provide a healthy crunch to your diet. 

Given all of its health benefits and versatility, it's a good idea to keep celery on hand to enjoy frequently. However, fresh celery only lasts about a week in the refrigerator. Freezing celery allows you to preserve it longer. 

Celery that is fresh from the garden is the best for freezing. It has a long growing season and can be found in the grocery store year-round. If you're buying celery, look for stalks that are rigid and straight with fresh leaves. Don't choose stalks that are limp or woody. Celery should smell fresh. Avoid any that smells musty.

Freeze celery as soon as possible after you harvest it or buy it. If you can't freeze it immediately, store it in the refrigerator to preserve its freshness until you can. Avoid freezing stalks with coarse strings. Wash the stalks thoroughly and cut them into one-inch pieces. 

Blanching your celery before you freeze it will help it last longer, taste better, and look fresher. Blanching is briefly scalding the celery in boiling water to stop the enzyme action that occurs in all plants. Enzymes are part of the growth process in plants. If you freeze celery before you stop the enzyme action, the celery may discolor, toughen, and become unpalatable after it's frozen. 

To blanch celery, you can use a blancher or a wire basket in a pot with a lid. You'll need one gallon of water for each pound of celery. Heat the water to boiling on high heat. Put the celery in the basket and submerge it in the boiling water. Once the water returns to boiling, blanch the celery for three minutes. If the water takes longer than one minute to resume boiling, you're blanching too much celery at once. 

Once you've blanched the celery, you need to cool it quickly to stop the cooking. Remove the celery from the boiling water and immediately plunge it into cold water. You can either use running cold water or ice water. You'll need about one pound of ice for each pound of celery. Leave the celery in cold water for three minutes, then remove it and allow it to drain. 

Choosing the correct freezer container is essential for preserving celery. The proper container will protect your celery's nutrient value, moisture content, flavor, and color. Whatever container you choose shouldn't be over one-half gallon since it will freeze too slowly to maximize freshness. The ideal freezer container should be: 

• Leakproof
• Durable
• Moisture vapor resistant
• Oil, water, and grease resistant
• Easy to seal 
• Easy to mark for identification

Don't use repurposed cottage cheese, yogurt, margarine, or ice cream containers to freeze celery. These containers won't adequately protect celery from moisture vapor. Choose rigid containers made of plastic or glass or freezer bags for freezing celery. If you use glass jars, use ones designed for canning and freezing since they're made to withstand drastic temperature changes. Regular glass jars will break easily in the freezer. 

Wide mouth freezer jars allow you to remove frozen celery easily. If the lids to your rigid containers don't fit securely, reinforce them with freezer tape. Freezer tape will stick below-freezing temperatures. Freezer bags also work well for freezing celery. If you're using freezer bags, press air out of the bag before sealing and freezing.