Celery three weeks later

After two weeks of blanching with paper and plastic I inspected the celery and found several small snails and evidence of chewing. I released the plants but the following week the celery had flopped so I have now tied the stalks loosely with kitchen string. Time to harvest the weakest stalks to include in vegetable stock. As you can see, the celery stalks are too thin and green to pass muster in a shop or market but the taste and nutrients are probably better. Perhaps shop-bought celery is grown under more artificial conditions. 

Vegetable Soup: Add stock to lightly fried, finely chopped onion, celery, carrots and garlic then add a couple of handfuls of risoni (pasta the size of grains of rice). Simmer until the vegetables and risoni are soft to make a  quick, simple and nutritious soup.

Celery tied to stop it flopping