How to Make Celery Salt from Celery Leaves

Making your own celery salt is a great way to create a zero waste product, especially when using the leaves of your own homegrown celery. It is very easy to make celery salt from celery leaves in just a few steps.

Celery Salt

Homemade celery salt, and celery powder, are great products to have on hand while establishing a zero waste product from your own fresh produce. To make celery salt from celery leaves, all you need are the leaves off the celery and some salt.

First, strip the leaves from the stalks of the celery removing as much of the stem as possible. Then you need to blanch and dry the celery leaves. You can do this in a dehydrator or in an oven.

Dehydrating Celery Stalks

• Arrange the blanched celery pieces on the trays of a dehydrator, leaving space between the pieces.
• Dry at 135˚F or 60˚C until the celery is crispy and dry. This takes around 2 hours.
• If you are using an oven to dehydrate, place the celery pieces with space on lined baking trays. Set the oven to the lowest heat setting, prop the oven door open with a spoon. Remove from the oven when the celery is crispy and dry – around 2 hours later.

Dehydrating Celery Leaves

• To dehydrate the celery leaves, wash and dry as much as possible.
• Place the leaves in a single layer on a baking sheet if using the oven or on dehydrator trays.
• Bake in the oven at 180˚C / 350˚F for 5 to 7 minutes until dry and crispy.
• Or, dry in the dehydrator at 135˚F or 60˚C until the leaves are crispy and dry.

Making Celery Salt

Once the leaves are dry, you need to grind them and mix them with salt. How much salt is your preference. Some like to you two parts celery leaves to 1 part salt, though I prefer to not use that much salt, so use 6 parts celery powder to one part salt. I also grind up the leaves without salt to use as celery powder. Store your celery salt and celery powder in air-tight containers.

Uses for Celery Salt

Use your homemade celery salt in place of store bought celery salt. It goes great in cold salads like coleslaw, potato salad and egg salad or use in a meat rub or as a seasoning to soups. It can also be added to French fries, corn on the cob, popcorn, baked potatoes and devilled eggs. 

Just remember when using celery salt, you will need to cut back on the salt added to your dish to account for the salt mixed in with the celery in the celery salt.

Using Dehydrated Celery Pieces

The celery pieces that are dehydrated can be rehydrated and used in soups and stews. If these dishes have a lot of liquid in them, then the dried celery pieces can just be thrown in directly without rehydrating them. 

For drier dishes, the celery pieces will need to be rehydrated before use.

Store these pieces in an airtight jar with a moisture absorber as they can absorb moisture quite quickly.

These pieces could also be thrown into a coffee grinder and ground down to a powder as needed.

Conditioning Dried Celery and Celery Leaves

Once the celery has been full dehydrated, it will need to be conditioned to be kept without going off.

Fill a jar about two-thirds full and seal the lid. Over the next week or so, shake the jar a couple of times a day.

If you start to see mould, they will need to be thrown out. If you see moisture, they are not dried enough, and need to be placed back into the dehydrator. 

Once they have been conditioned, the jars can be fulled completely and stored in a cool, dark place. If they do start to have a strong smell or you can see moisture in the jars, it is time to dehydrate another batch of celery.

Storing Celery Salt

For the best flavour, store this celery salt in an airtight container for up to three months. After this time, it will start to lose some of its flavour, though will still be safe to enjoy.

Dehydrate other Fruits, Herbs and Vegetables

• Apples
• Bananas
• Lemons
• Mulberries
• Oranges
• Garlic
• Stevia
• Strawberries
• Calendula
• Basil
• Pumpkin
• Tomatoes

Dehydrating Celery and Making Celery Salt

Simple Living. Creative Learning

Making your own celery salt is a great way to create a zero waste product, and can be easily done with celery leaves in just a few steps.

Print Recipe SaveSaved! Pin Recipe

Course Condiment

Prep Time 5 minutes mins

Dehydrating Time 2 hours hrs

Total Time 2 hours hrs 5 minutes mins

Ingredients

 

• ▢ Leaves from one bunch of celery
• ▢ Sea Salt

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

 

Blanching Celery Stalks

• First, strip the leaves from the stalks of the celery removing as much of the stem as possible.
• Before dehydrating celery, you need to blanch it first. This helps to keep the lovely green colour of the celery.
• Bring a large pot of water to the boil.
• Wash the celery well, cut off the whitish bottom ends and the leafy tops, saving and freezing these for stock, if you wish or see below.
• Cut the celery stalks into small pieces, about ½ inch thick crescents, and place them in the boiling water.
• Leave them there for about 3 minutes, then remove and place in ice water.I f you are not dehydrating straight away, store in the fridge for up to 24 hours.

Dehydrating Celery and Celery Leaves

• Arrange the blanched celery pieces on the trays of a dehydrator, leaving space between the pieces.
• Dry at 135˚F or 60˚C until the celery is crispy and dry. This takes around 2 hours.
• If you are using an oven to dehydrate, place the celery pieces with space on lined baking trays. Set the oven to the lowest heat setting, prop the oven door open with a spoon. Remove from the oven when the celery is crispy and dry - around 2 hours later.
• To dehydrate the celery leaves, wash and dry as much as possible.
• Place the leaves in a single layer on a baking sheet if using the oven or on dehydrator trays.
• Bake in the oven at 180˚C / 350˚F for 5 to 7 minutes until dry and crispy.
• Or, dry in the dehydrator at 135˚F or 60˚C until the leaves are crispy and dry.

Celery Salt

• Once the leaves are dry, you need to grind them and mix them with salt. How much salt is your preference.
• Some like to you two parts celery leaves to 1 part salt, though I prefer to not use that much salt, so use 6 parts celery powder to one part salt.
• I also grind up the leaves without salt to use as celery powder.
• Store your celery salt and celery powder in air-tight containers.

Nutrition

Serving: 1teaspoon

Nutritional information is an estimate and provided as a courtesy. The values may vary according to the ingredients and tools that are used. Please use your preferred nutritional calculator for more detailed information.

Keyword Celery, Celery Salt, Condiment, Salt

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