How To Dry Celery
If you have an abundance of celery, either from your garden, CSA or a store sale, here are easy step by step instructions on how to dry fresh celery for later use.
We had a lot of celery from the CSA, and we didn’t want to waste it. Hubby mentioned he’d like to dry celery, so I figured, why not!?
Note: my ovens have a drying feature. That is what is used for these directions.
● Wash your celery thoroughly.
● Cut your washed celery into long slices.
● You need to blanch your celery to help keep the color.
● Preheat your oven drying setting to 135°.
● Bring a pot of water to a rolling boil.
● Prepare a large bowl of ice water.
● Place a handful of celery into the boiling water, cover.
● Allow to boil 1 minute.
● Remove celery from the boiling water (tongs are a good removal choice)
● Plunge your celery into the prepared ice water as soon as you remove them from the roiling boil. This will stop any cooking that would continue.
● Drain your blanched celery.
● Remove excess water with a paper towel or cloth.
● Cut the celery strips lengthwise once or twice, then dice (about 1/4″ long pieces)
● Spread evenly on a tray with sides (a jelly roll pan is perfect).
● Dry in your oven on the drying setting at 135° for 10-18 hours, until crispy, hard and dry.
● If you need to dry celery overnight, lower the temperature to 120° so you don’t over-dry.
● Remove dried celery from oven, allow to cool and then seal in an air tight container.
● Store out of direct sunlight.
● Note that celery is mostly water, and it takes a looooong time to dry. They will feel like hard little pieces when well dried. Whatever you do, don’t leave any damp pieces of celery in your container. Make sure you dry thoroughly.
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Shell says
A friend of mine told me she dried celery recently but she just cut it up and put it in the dehydrator. Then she threw it in the blender and made it into a powder. She said it is like celery salt because there is so much sodium in celery. I was thinking if trying it but now I wonder if I need to blanch it first.
Ann says
I’m not sure why you would need to if you are making celery powder, Shell. Do you really care about the color?
Ann
L Hall says
I didn’t blanch mine to dry in chunks or powder. My celery chunks look like the ones that were blanched.
Sarah says
I don’t blanch mine when I put it in the dehydrator…
Barbee says
Am I missing out on something? Why are we drying our celery (or making celery powder)?
I can’t recall the last time I used either in a recipe-Now, suddenly I have this strange feeling I’m missing out on something. 🙁
beth says
Because if you have 10 lbs of celery, you can’t possibly use that much celery before it rots. By canning or dehydrating foods, you can have them all year round, even well after the garden is plowed or snowed under. By dehydrating, you can use in soups and stews all winter long and it will stay on the shelf for years.
In addition, canning and dehydrating saves you money because you can purchase large lots of produce when they are at rock bottom prices and preserve them, instead of paying the higher prices week to week.
Julie says
Hi Ann, Thanks for the instruction. I linked to your article on my blog. Question. How do you know if you’ve over dried the celery?
Ann says
Julie, I am not sure you can over-dry. You are taking the moisture out, and when the moisture is gone, it is gone. I am not sure at this temperature it could ever cook.
The first time we did this though, I was shocked at how TINY the dried celery was!
Ann
Julie says
You aren’t kidding. Three bunches of celery will fit in a little bitty jar once dried.
Ann T. says
I like using Chinese celery. It’s very leafy and has thinner stalks, therefore, easier to dry.