Celery

I never knew celery would grow here.  I always heard it took lots of work with a need to blanch the stalks by wrapping them up to inhibit chloropyll production, etc.  So I was delighted when I found seeds for a herb called Amsterdam Seasoning Celery.  Sprinkled in a pot, the seeds readily sprouted and are growing well in the cool weather.  We all know how hard it is to keep good celery at hand, yet I love the flavor in soups and salads.  So this seems a good answer, fresh picked celery flavor. 
Then at the farmer's market yesterday I saw huge bunches of locally grown celery.  Not blanched, but stalked and pretty much looking like celery one might see at the grocery store, except with a huge bushy head of leaves.  I bought a bunch and brought it home but it was far too large for the drawer in the fridge.  So I snipped off the stalks with my new kitchen shears and made cream of celery soup with the leafy part, includng those stems within the leaves.  Well, the soup must have been healthy.  That is the best that can be said.  It tasted something like parsley.  Maybe people who juice greens would recognize the taste, pure chlorophyll!