When the appetite is weak, a dish of raw pickled celery is often a refreshing appetizer that can instantly awaken our taste buds. Not only is it easy to make, but it's also nutritious, making it a great accompaniment to family dinners and drinks with friends. Here's how to make raw pickled celery, and how you can enjoy it.

Selection and cleaning

The key to making raw pickled celery is to choose fresh, crisp celery. When selecting the celery, pay attention to whether the stalks are straight and the leaves are green. When cleaning celery, first rinse it with water and then soak it in salt water for a few moments to remove pesticide residues and impurities.

Pickling Seasoning

The soul of raw pickled celery lies in the pickling seasoning. Usually, we use garlic, ginger, chili pepper, balsamic vinegar and sugar to make the marinade. The specific proportion can be fine-tuned according to personal taste, and the general proportion is: 10 cloves of garlic, 5 slices of ginger, 5 small peppers, 3 spoons of balsamic vinegar, 1 spoon of sugar. Put all the seasonings into a bowl and mix well, let it stand for 10 minutes so that the seasonings are fully integrated.

Pickling Process

Drain the cleaned celery and cut into bite-sized pieces. Pour the marinade into the celery and mix well so that each piece of celery is evenly coated with the seasoning. Seal the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator to marinate. Generally, the celery is ready to eat after 1-2 hours of marinating; too much time may cause the celery to lose its crunchy texture.

Pickling Tips

Selecting Crisp Celery: The crispness of the celery determines the flavor of raw pickled celery, so it's important to select fresh, crisp celery.

Seasoning: The proportion of pickling seasoning should be fine-tuned according to personal taste, not too salty or too sour.

Mix well: It is important to mix well to ensure that each piece of celery is coated with the seasoning.

Seal and refrigerate: Sealing and refrigerating with plastic wrap during the pickling process will prevent air from entering and keep the celery crisp and tender.

Appropriate marinating time: the marinating time should not be too long, usually 1-2 hours can be served, too long may cause the celery to become soft.

Enjoy and Pairing

Pickled raw pickled celery can be eaten directly or paired with other ingredients to create more flavorful dishes. For example:

Pickled Celery with Noodles: Toss raw pickled celery with boiled noodles and season with soy sauce, vinegar and sesame oil to get a refreshing and appetizing noodle dish.

Fried rice with pickled celery: Stir-fry the pickled celery with rice, add eggs, ham sausage and other ingredients to make a nutritious fried rice.

Raw Pickled Celery Soup: Simmer raw pickled celery with sliced meat and bones to make soup, add salt, pepper and other seasonings to get a bowl of fresh and delicious soup.

Nutritional value

Raw pickled celery is not only delicious and appetizing, but also nutritious. Celery is rich in dietary fiber, vitamins and minerals, with heat detoxification, lower blood pressure, lower blood fat and other effects, is a rare healthy vegetables.

Warm tips

Raw pickled celery is a cold dish, should not be consumed too much at once, so as not to cause gastrointestinal discomfort.

For people with gastrointestinal diseases, eat raw pickled celery should be moderate, so as not to aggravate the condition.

Raw pickled celery should not be stored for a long time, usually eaten within 2-3 days after pickling.