Dried or Dehydrated Celery vs. Freeze-Dried Celery

If you like dried celery, you should also try freeze-dried celery! Both have a fresh celery flavor, but there are some key differences that set them apart from each other. Dehydrated celery lends itself best to being used in cooked dishes while freeze-dried celery can hold its own as a fresh celery replacement in many dishes.

The freeze-drying process allows celery to hold it's original cellular structure while just extracting water. Dehydrating celery is a slower process that causes the celery to shrink in size as the water is extracted. And while freeze-dried celery may only expand to slightly in size when you add water, dehydrated vegetables can as much as quadruple in volume! Cook times between the two vary as freeze-dried rehydrate almost instantaneously and dehydrated takes 10 minutes simmering or one hour soaking. So now that you know the difference, you can choose which one is best for your cooking endeavors!

Dried Celery Put to the Test

This light and savory soup, featuring dried celery flakes, is easy to make, healthy, and a welcome addition to any meal.

Celery Potato Soup

2 c. Dehydrated Potato
1 c. Dehydrated Celery
¼ c. Dehydrated Onion
2 c. Water
4 c. Vegetable Stock
½ t. Cumin
2 T. Fresh Parsley
¼ t. Tarragon
¼ t. Celery Salt (or equal parts ground dried celery leaves and sea salt)

Bring water to a boil with potato, dehydrated celery flakes, and onions. Simmer 10 minutes. Add remaining ingredients and simmer 5 more minutes or until vegetables are tender. Blend in a food processor in small batches until smooth. Or, if you like a chunky soup, skip this step. Serve warm and enjoy!

Dried celery is great for everyday use as well as for backpacking and emergency food storage. It's lightweight and compact size is perfect for the trail when added to a soup or stew! You can grind it and mix with an equal part of sea salt to create your very own, freshly ground celery salt!