When I read Heidi Swanson’s post at 101 Cookbooks I knew I would make my own celery salt. I do love celery and believe it makes everything taste a little better. My dad crunched on raw celery often and my grandmother liked to cook with it. I had celery from my garden in a chop salad for lunch yesterday and reserved the big ends to stuff with my favorite crunchy, organic peanut butter.

But back to the celery salt. It was easy to make and I gave some to two friends. I put it on soups, casseroles, vegetables, salads and open-face sandwiches—anytime I want to kick the flavor up a bit. You can also use various herbs—cilantro, oregano—for herb salts.

To make your own celery salt look for organic celery in the grocery store. I followed Heidi’s instructions with only a few changes.

I washed the celery leaves and used the lettuce spinner to extract the water. Then I patted them very dry between layers of paper towel.

Separated into a single layer, they dried in the oven at 350F for about 7 minutes. They should be dry but not browned.

You don’t have to use a mortar and pestle to crush the leaves. I just happen to be married to a chemist. 

I crushed the celery flakes to the size of the Malden salt flakes.

I’ve made celery salt with a number of different types of salt, and the flaky, whispers of Maldon Sea Salt is my current favorite. The shards are similar in size to the crumbled celery leaves, which works nicely. With some of the finer sea salts, you get more separation, which is not what you want.  —Heidi Swanson, 101 Cookbooks

These are the proportions I used–salt to celery flakes but personal preference reigns here.

And then there was lunch.

Be sure to review the 101 Cookbooks recipe for more details and Heidi’s enchanting prose.