What Is a Rib of Celery?
A single piece of celery, or leafstalk, is called a rib. It’s often pulled off the larger celery bunch. The celery midrib is found between the celery root and leafy part of the celery.
Celery Characteristics
Celery is a light green vegetable in color, at least 7 inches long with vertical ribs or stalks. Celery stalks are loaded with cellulose, a complex carbohydrate that gives plant cell walls their hard shape. It’s OK to eat cellulose in celery.
Celery stalks found in grocery store produce sections are well formed and neatly trimmed, and they’re generally free of any blemish or damage.
Stalk or Rib
The terms celery stalk and celery rib are often used interchangeably. In botanical terms, a celery stalk refers to the entire head of celery. However, Americans generally call the one piece a celery stalk.
Number of Stalks
There are usually eight to 10 stalks in an average celery bunch. Food producers don’t include the number of stalks on packaging for celery, but rather focus on the vegetable’s length, quality and color.
Celery Measures
When you chop up one rib of celery (a stalk of average size), the celery pieces will measure about 1/2 cup. Two average-sized ribs will yield about 1 cup of celery. In each cup of celery are varying amounts of calories, carbohydrates, sodium and fiber.
When it comes to using celery in a recipe, it’s best to use common sense. A celery stalk will likely mean a full bunch of celery, especially if the dish seems to rely heavily on vegetables. In other cases, a rib would be a single piece of celery.
Using Celery
Celery is a versatile vegetable and is a staple ingredient found in salads, soups and appetizers. It’s often eaten as a snack on its own, sometimes accompanied with a type of dip or sauce. In addition, in recent years the vegetable has grown in popularity as more people have begun using it for juicing. Celery provides a wide mix of antioxidants from folate, flavonoids, and vitamins A and C.
Juicing Celery
Drinking celery juice has become a health fad. Some experts claim that drinking celery juice can help a person lose weight, achieve clearer, healthier-looking skin and eliminate headache issues.
By browsing online, you can find videos of people trying out celery juice and reporting on the results. If you want to try juicing celery for yourself, use a juicing machine to extract the juice from celery ribs.
