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IMAGE Clockwise from left ilbusca/Getty Images, SharonDay/Getty Images, lzf/Getty Images Opposite NTCo/Getty Images
‘Smallage’ (Apium graveolens) isn’t the most
exciting name for a plant that may well be a
parent of our crisp and crunchy modern-day
celery. Yet the strongly flavoured, slightly bitter
herb is credited with giving rise to one of our
favourite winter soup and salad vegetables.
Available in New Zealand under the title ‘celery
for cutting’, Apium graveolens is a small-leafed,
hollow-stemmed plant that can grow up to 90cm
high in the right conditions. It is the source of our
culinary ‘celery seed’ and is thought to have first
grown wild in damp spots in the Mediterranean
and other parts of Europe.
Celery’s wild ancestors were considered
poisonous and were reserved for cultural uses
such as funeral rites, which may be why they
were considered a bad omen. The Greeks and
Romans presented their victorious athletes with
wreaths fashioned from celery leaves and a
similarly formal arrangement of the vegetable’s
foliage was discovered ancient Eygptian pharaoh
Tutankhamun’s tomb.
Wild celeries were also used for medicinal
purposes long before they became popular in
the kitchen and although the vegetable may
have been cultivated in the 1400s, it didn’t get a
‘gardening’ mention until 1623, when the French
botanist Olivier de Serres wrote of it in this
capacity. Around the same time, Italy is likely to
have begun the practice of commercially growing
a version of smallage, with France and England
soon following suit.
Until the early 1700s, celery was used largely
as flavouring, but by 1806 gardeners were aware
of four different varieties, including those with
large fleshy stalks, and celery was being eaten in
France and Italy as a salad with the small stalks
and leaves being served with olive oil.
Around this time, the way in which celery was
used may have gone in two directions, resulting
in different forms being grown in specific parts
of the world. The Chinese (who are believed
to have had celery on their radar since the 5th
century) appear to have grown a leafier variety
because they valued foliage over stems, while the
Europeans preferred the crunchiness of stems
and paid less attention to leaf.
Celery made its way to India in 1930, when
it was introduced to the Punjab region by
the Amritsar Trading Company, while Dutch
immigrants are credited with introducing the
vegetable to the United States.
Today, celery is grown for its seed in China,
Egypt, the south of France and India (with
India supplying 62 per cent of the global
demand, most from the Punjab region). Celery
is popular as a fresh vegetable and also in
frozen vegetable mixes. It is a staple on winter
supermarket shelves.
Smallage today
The leaves (not the stalks, which can be
stringy) are used, raw, in salads, while the
French add the herb to soups and stews,
believing it to deliver up a more concentrated
flavour than garden varieties of celery.
Gardeners have learned, over the centuries,
that smallage grown in the cooler months is
less strongly flavoured, and therefore, more
pleasant to eat.
Above clockwise from left When in
bloom, it’s easy to see why the celery
plant is a relative of parsley; Much of
the world’s celery seed is grown in
India; Smallage is a member of the
celery family used for its leaf and, in
come cultures, stems as well.
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