The Tip For Effortlessly Cutting Up Your Celery? Give It A Whack
Barring those random, deceptively plump berries you may have spotted on a hike, food grown from the ground is almost always nutritious, delicious, and important for maintaining a well-balanced diet. Yes, we're talking about fruits and vegetables. Although fruits are typically enjoyed whole, many vegetable-infused recipes require extensive chopping. If you don't have Gordon Ramsay-level knife skills, you probably know how long and tedious veggie cutting can be. If you're not a quick cutter, an on-the-fly tuna salad featuring your favorite vegetables can turn into a thirty-minute process, especially when it comes to the celery.
Because it's so fibrous, dense, and well...long, celery is notoriously painful to chop. Even just biting off a clean, string-free piece of celery is challenging. However, there's one easy and helpful tip for effortlessly cutting celery, and it just might help you blow off some steam too. Whacking your celery a few times over before you begin mincing it with your knife will make the dicing, slicing, and chopping process significantly easier. By thwacking your celery with a little bit of force, you're tenderizing the stalks and breaking down the fibers to make them more pliable and easier to cut.
Reaching for the right tools
This isn't WWE — you can't just beat up your celery with your fists. Well, technically you can, but to do this with some finesse and culinary dignity, you'll need the right kitchen tools to effectively loosen up the fibers of your head of celery.
For starters, acquire a clean plastic bag to cover the celery with. This will prevent the guts of the celery from spilling out onto your cutting tray or tabletop while allowing you to inspect the celery's texture for optimal tenderization. Next, you'll need something to give it a good smack. You can use your fist and the flat side of a cleaver to punch it down, but if you're not keen on using a sharp knife for this, a rolling pin, a cooking oil spray can, spatula, meat tenderizer or any heavy-weight kitchen tool works just as well. In a pinch, a full water bottle can work too. Once it's been punched down enough, it's time to enjoy some low-effort celery chopping.
Additional tips for celery cutting
Whacking your celery before cutting it is only half the battle. Here are a few extra tips for smooth chopping and maximum enjoyment.
Like many other veggies, celery grows from the ground, which means residual dirt, soil, and earth can cling to its flesh. To avoid consuming any dirt, always properly clean your celery before moving forward with the whacking, smacking, and chopping. Although hitting your celery will make the chopping process less challenging, you can remove the outer fibers from the ribs using a julienne peeler for even less chopping strain. The duller your knife, the more labor-intensive the chop, so while it might sound elementary, using a well-sharpened chef's knife will also ease the effort that goes into celery chopping, even after it's been whacked. Finally, don't toss the lush ends, add celery leaves to a salad instead!
Though it's only one of many kitchen knife hacks you should master, this cheeky celery-chopping tip will make your life significantly easier. After all, why work harder when you can work smarter?