Celery (Ajmod): Buying, Storing and the Celery Juice Trend
A glass of celery juice on an empty stomach won’t clean out your liver, clear your skin or reset your gut. It’s mostly water with some potassium, vitamin K and salt. Celery itself, though, is a genuinely useful vegetable, and this guide covers how to pick crisp stalks, the foil trick that keeps them snapping for weeks, simple soup and stir-fry uses, how ajmod fits in, and the celery juice benefits and side effects nobody on social media mentions (warfarin, sun-sensitive skin and allergy).
In brief
- What it is: Apium graveolens, the same plant whose seeds are sold as ajmod or ajmoda.
- Best pick: a tight bunch, stalks that snap, fresh leaves at the top.
- Storage: wrapped in foil in the fridge, about 2 to 3 weeks.
- Season here: cool months, roughly October to March in Pakistan and North India.
- The juice: fine as a drink, not a medicine.
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How to choose celery at the store
Celery turns up in winter at supermarkets and posher sabzi stalls across Pakistan and India. Quality swings wildly. One bunch will be crisp and sweet; the next, sitting in the same crate, will be rubbery, stringy and bitter because it was cut two weeks ago and has spent those two weeks slowly drying out in a warm shop.
- Look at the bunch. Stalks should be pressed close together, pale to mid green and shiny, while a loose, splayed bunch with dull stalks has almost always been sitting around for a week or more.
- Snap test. Bend one outer stalk. Fresh celery cracks. Old celery bends like rubber.
- Check the leaves. Bright, perky leaves mean it was cut recently. Yellow, brown or slimy leaves mean it wasn’t.
- Base and streaks. The cut end should be pale and firm rather than dark, split or hollow, and any brown or rusty streaks inside the stalks, or a soft brown heart, mean damage or rot has set in. Pass.
- Size. Thick, dark outer stalks are stringier. The pale heart is sweetest.
Bitter celery isn’t dangerous the way a bitter lauki is. It’s usually heat, age or a darker, tougher variety, so peel off the outer strings with a potato peeler and use the bitter outer stalks in cooked dishes, where the bitterness mostly fades.
How to store celery so it stays crisp
Wrap the whole, unwashed bunch tightly in aluminium foil and keep it in the vegetable drawer. Plenty of cooks swear by it. Foil keeps the stalks from drying out while still letting a little moisture and gas escape, whereas a sealed plastic bag tends to leave them sweaty and quick to rot. Expect 2 to 3 weeks of crunch.
- Cut sticks: stand them in a jar of cold water with the lid on, change the water every 2 days, and use them within a week.
- Limp celery: trim the base and stand the stalks in iced water for 30 minutes. They firm up surprisingly well.
- Freezing: fine for soup, stock and cooked dishes only. Chop, blanch 2 minutes, cool in ice water, dry and freeze flat. It thaws soft and won’t work raw.
- Leaves: don’t throw them away. Use them within 2 to 3 days like hara dhania, or dry them for soup.
Sour, slimy or mouldy celery goes in the bin. Just limp? Cook it.
Celery juice benefits and side effects, judged honestly
The celery juice trend took off around 2018, when a wellness personality promoted a big glass of plain celery juice every morning on an empty stomach and credited it with fixing everything from eczema to exhaustion. Millions tried it, posted about it and swore by it, yet there’s still no good evidence behind any of those specific claims. None.
What celery juice really gives you
A glass made from a whole bunch (roughly 450 to 500 g of stalks) gives you water, potassium, a good chunk of a day’s vitamin K, some vitamin C and folate, and more sodium than people expect, because celery is naturally one of the saltier vegetables. The juicer throws away most of the fibre, which is exactly the part that keeps you full, slows sugar into the blood and makes chewed celery the better deal every single time. See fruit vs juice vs smoothie for the same logic applied to fruit.
Why people feel better on it
Honestly? The routine. Someone who starts every day with a big glass of water-rich juice, eats a bit less junk and pays attention to their health will often feel better within a week, whatever green thing is in the glass. The liver and kidneys already handle clearing waste on their own, and no juice speeds that up; our look at juice cleanses and liver flush claims explains why.
The celery isn’t doing the work. The habit is.
Celery juice side effects
- Loose stools and bloating in some people, especially on an empty stomach.
- Vitamin K: a daily glass is a big, sudden change in vitamin K, which matters if you take warfarin.
- Salt and potassium: not a drink to start casually if you have kidney disease, heart failure or a salt limit.
- Allergy: celery is one of the stronger food allergens, particularly in people with birch or mugwort pollen allergy, and reactions can be serious.
Ajmod, celery seed and the desi connection
Here’s the part most celery guides leave out. The small brown seeds sold in desi pansar shops as ajmod or ajmoda generally come from celery itself, the same Apium graveolens that gives the green stalks, and they belong to the same family (Apiaceae, the carrot family) as ajwain, saunf, zeera and dhaniya. That’s why they smell faintly alike. Regional names do get muddled, and some sellers use “ajmod” for other small seeds, so if it matters to you, check the botanical name on the packet.
Ajmoda appears in Ayurvedic texts as a warming, digestive spice, used in blends for wind and heaviness after meals and in traditional formulas for stiff joints. Unani hakeems class celery seed (tukhm-e-karafs) as hot and dry. That’s tradition, not proven medicine. A pinch in cooking is food. Celery seed products and concentrates are a different thing, and pregnant women, people on blood thinners or with kidney disease should ask a doctor before using them, with the amount set by the pack or a qualified practitioner. For its better-known cousin, see our ajwain guide.
How to cook celery: soup, stir fry and a desi tadka
Celery and dal soup (serves 3)
Heat 1 tbsp oil. Add 1 chopped onion, 2 chopped celery stalks, 1 small chopped carrot and 2 garlic cloves, and cook gently for 8 minutes until soft and sweet. Add 1/2 cup washed masoor dal, 3 cups water, 1/4 tsp haldi and salt. Simmer 20 minutes, blend half, and finish with black pepper, lemon and chopped celery leaves.
Celery chicken stir fry (serves 2)
Slice 250 g boneless chicken thin. Stir fry in 1 tbsp oil on high heat for 4 minutes with 1 tsp ginger garlic paste. Add 3 celery stalks sliced on the slant, 1 sliced green chilli and half a capsicum, and toss 2 minutes. Season with 1 tbsp soy sauce, black pepper and a splash of water. Celery should still crunch.
Celery leaf tadka
Chop the leaves from one bunch. In 1 tsp ghee, crackle 1/2 tsp zeera and 1 dry red chilli, add the leaves for 30 seconds, and pour it all over a pot of plain moong dal. Done.
Myths and surprising facts
Myth: celery has negative calories
The idea is that chewing and digesting celery burns more energy than it contains. Not true. A medium stalk has around 6 calories and digestion uses only a small fraction of that, so it’s very low in calories, not below zero. Great snack. Not magic.
Did you know?
- Celery, coriander, ajwain, saunf, zeera, carrot and parsley are all in one plant family. Your masala dabba is full of celery’s relatives.
- Celery contains natural compounds (psoralens) that make skin more sensitive to sunlight. Farm workers who handle lots of it and then work in the sun can get burn-like blisters, so it’s not just citrus that does this.
- Celery and celeriac are the same species. Celeriac is simply bred for its knobbly root instead of its stalks.
If you take warfarin, don’t suddenly start or stop large daily amounts of celery juice or other high vitamin K foods; keep your intake steady and tell your anticoagulation clinic, since your blood tests may need checking. Kidney disease, heart failure or a doctor-set salt or potassium limit means asking your doctor or dietitian first. Anyone with a known celery, birch or mugwort pollen allergy should avoid it; swelling of the lips or throat, wheeze or dizziness after eating celery is an emergency. Handling lots of celery and then going into strong sun can cause a blistering rash, so wash your hands and arms afterwards. Don’t give celery juice to babies, and keep raw celery sticks away from under-5s unless cut into thin, soft pieces, as they’re a choking risk.
More buying and storage guides live in our Fruits and Vegetables section.
Celery questions people ask
What are the main celery juice side effects?
Loose stools and bloating. It also delivers a lot of vitamin K, salt and potassium, which matters for people on warfarin, with kidney disease or on a salt limit. Allergy is less common but can be serious.
How do you keep celery fresh in the fridge?
Wrap the whole unwashed bunch tightly in aluminium foil and keep it in the vegetable drawer. It usually stays crisp for 2 to 3 weeks. Cut sticks keep about a week standing in a jar of water.
Can diabetics eat celery?
Yes. Celery is very low in carbohydrate and makes an easy crunchy snack. With peanut butter or cream cheese it’s still fine, but those add calories, so keep the spread to a thin layer.
Can diabetics have celery juice?
Plain celery juice has little sugar, so it won’t spike blood sugar much, but mixed “green juices” often contain apple or pineapple that do. Eating the stalks is still the better choice because you keep the fibre.
What is celery called in Urdu and Hindi?
The seed is widely called ajmod or ajmoda, and the leafy plant is often just called celery in shops. Unani books call the seed tukhm-e-karafs.
How do you know if celery is bad?
Slimy stalks, a sour smell, mould or a mushy brown heart mean it’s gone. Just limp and bendy isn’t bad; it’s dehydrated, and 30 minutes in iced water will usually firm it up.
Is celery good for kidney patients?
In small cooked portions it can fit many kidney diets, but it’s relatively high in sodium and has some potassium. Big daily glasses of juice aren’t a good idea with kidney disease, so check with your renal team first.
Can I eat celery during pregnancy?
Yes. Washed celery as a normal vegetable is fine in pregnancy, but concentrated celery seed products are a different matter and are best avoided unless your doctor agrees.
Does celery interact with warfarin?
Celery is rich in vitamin K, which works against warfarin, but you don’t have to avoid it; the key is to keep your intake steady and tell your clinic before making a big change such as a daily juice.
Celery vs dhaniya vs parsley: what’s the difference?
They’re cousins in the same plant family. Celery is grown for crunchy stalks and has a salty, green taste, dhaniya (coriander) leaves are citrusy, and parsley is milder and grassier; celery leaves can stand in for either in soups.
Are celery leaves safe to eat?
Yes. They’re stronger than the stalks and good in soup, dal, chutney or a tadka.
Is celery good for weight loss?
It’s filling and very low in calories, so it’s a good swap for chips or biscuits. Nothing more magical than that.