From Organic Gardening, Sept/Oct 1994.

(Abbreviated, summarized.)

"Cutting celery, also called leaf celery, soup celery and smallage" looks like flat-leaved (US: Italian; Brit: French) parsley, tastes just like celery. Grows into nice little bush. Zwolsche Krul is old Dutch variety, 2' high, much hardier than stalk celery. Can be perennial, even in chilly climates. Handless drought really well.

"Par-cel cutting celery is a recently reintroduced old European heirloom variety. . . looks very much like curly-leaved parsley." About 1' high, use as garnish or salad mix addition. Hardy.

"French Dinant cutting celery has branches that tend to grow outward, making them super easy to cut." Chinese version: Heung Kunn, traditionally used in stir fries or as soup garnish.

Celeriac (celery root). Peel skin off, dice into potato-leek soup or potato pancakes. Nice crunchy raw treat. Hardy, needs little care. Rich soil needed. Leave in ground in mild winters, harvest in spring.

Lovage--perennial with long history of medicinal and culinary uses. All edible, roots, stems, flowers. Old Git's is up already, grows in a pot and looks a lot like big flat-leaved parsley. Very good in tuna or potato salads. Very cold hardy. Old Git is going to stick with lovage, easy, attractive and is a good flavor substitute.

-- Old Git (anon@spamproblems.com), April 15, 1999

Answers

I remember eating the Dutch version when I was a child living in Holland. Where can you get the seeds for this great tasting celery in the USA? Please list the name and address of the company that sells the seeds and the cost. Thanks!

-- freddie (freddie@thefreeloader.com), April 15, 1999.

Pinetree Garden Seeds, Box 300, Gloucester, ME 04260, cost, phone not listed. Didn't check for web site.

Also, using search engine, found eight sites, one of which is Dutch:

www.xs4all.nl/~moischol/1618eeuw.html

-- Old Git (anon@spamproblems.com), April 15, 1999.

Pinetree Garden Seeds

-- Tom Carey (tomcarey@mindspring.com), April 16, 1999.