Perpetual celery?

Not quite, but celery are biennial. So, if you in a cooler clime, but can over-winter a plant indoors by a sunny window, it’ll produce for two years for you! (And of course if you live somewhere temperate where there’s not cold to kill off less hardy plants, then you’re golden.)

The Spousal Unit tried the over-wintering thing one year. Aside from a minor infestation of aphids, it worked. We got two years’ worth of good eats out of a single plant.

While these stalks are not from over-wintered specimens, the plants this year have produced well. We only harvest what we need for a meal. In addition to regular celery dishes, we use celery in every recipe that calls for parsley. It makes for a terrific substitute. It’s more substantial, has crunch and more flavor.

And if you like that very cute kitchen-themed tea towel, you can find it in my Spoonflower shop!

What about you? Do you make odd but brilliant substitutions in your cooking?