Boring Old Celery Is The Hot Vegetable Of 2017

When you're most famous for being a "zero calorie food" and for your high fiber content, well, you're probably not what one would call a sexy vegetable. Yeah, celery kind of gets a lot of crap thrown at it. It's known as bland, uninspiring, stringy, and (at best) the third best thing on a plate of Buffalo chicken wings.

But with the rise of the raw vegetable in entertaining this year, it seems like the tides are about to change for the humble celery. What you may call bland and stringy, we call crisp, refreshing, and an easel upon which many flavors may be painted.

Yes, it's the one thing you're not serving at your parties that you absolutely should be. And we're not just talking about serving it alongside carrot sticks, radishes, cherry tomatoes, and a pool of ranch dressing. Celery has a wide array of culinary uses from soups to salads to sides and spices. It's a wonderfully versatile ingredient!

Don't believe that you should rethink your position on serving celery? Consider this Celery Citrus Salad with Feta. The celery acts as a crunchy and satisfying base for tender tangerines, creamy feta cheese, and a light vinaigrette. Celery can also take on new life as an appetizer in this Pickled Shrimp and Celery recipe, where it is transformed into a tart and spiced star. Celery is also a tried and true classic, as these recipes for Double Cream of Celery Soup and Celery Rémoulade prove. Heck, you can even drink your celery with this tequila-based Celery Daisy cocktail.

So think beyond the vegetable tray and give celery a proper chance this summer. Your friends (and your waistline) will thank you!