Celery Salt

Celery was cultivated in the 17th century by Italian gardeners from a wild plant growing in salt marshes. The ground brown seeds, a spice in their own right with a taste similar to fennel, are mixed with fine salt to produce celery salt. This flavoured salt is added to vegetable juices, and more specifically tomato juice. It brings a pleasant flavour to fried eggs, stewed carrots and fish recipes. The Chinese were already using the smoke from sesame oil to make ink by 5,000 BC. Traces of the consumption of these seeds have been found in Egyptian tombs. A good luck charm for slaves taken from Africa, sesame was also very popular in Asia and the Middle East. The fruits of the bushy plant naturally split open after drying and release the seeds.