Year Two Day Eighteen - Celery Seed

Dear all, 


Potato Salad is one of Darren's favorite things and on the eve of a wonderful visit from Bob and Mary Lou, Darren suggested I whip up a bowl of a classic North American side. 

I found this recipe online after googling ' potato salad' and 'celery seed'. I was careful to follow the recipe pretty much to the last milli-gram of salt ( although I added 4 eggs instead of two and left out the pickles..;it is almost impossible for me to follow recipes)

1 cup Mayo

1 teaspoon mustard

1/2 teaspoon celery seed

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon pepper

4 cups potatoes, cooked and cubed

2 boiled eggs, chopped

1/2 cup onion, chopped

1/2 cup celery, sliced

1/2 cup sweet pickle relish

Combine mayo mustard, celery seed, salt, and pepper; mix well.

Add potatoes, eggs, onion and celery, mix lightly. Chill.

I was interested to read that Celery Seeds are in fact very small fruit which yield a very powerful and valuable oil used in perfumes and also containing the organic compound 'apiol'. Celery Seed is widely used in North America as a seasoning ( Bloody Mary's, Popcorn) or mixed with salt *Celery Salt* and used widely as a spice and condiment. 

Celery seed is not however widely used in Western herbal medicine, although it has been used medicinally for thousands of years elsewhere. Many moons ago, Ayurvedic medicine called for celery seed in the fight against colds, flu, water retention, poor digestion, various types of arthritis, and certain diseases of the liver and spleen. Today, Celery see is primarily used as a diuretic, for treating arthritis, reducing muscle spasm and inflammation and calming the nerves. Interestingly, celery seed is also very effective as a mosquito repellent *hurray*. Other studies have hinted that celery seed maybe useful in lowering blood pressure and cholesterol and well as protecting the liver from potentially damaging substances such as Tylenol. 

Anyway, long story short, it also tastes great in potato salad! The salad was a huge success and is nearly all gone ( despite the fact that I cooked waaaaay too much). For all those keen to experiment further, one of Darren's favorite snacks is Celery Seed sprinkled on Garlic bread... try it and see [it's pretty sensational}.