This Celery Trick Improves Every Bite Of Your Tuna Salad

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There are many ways to give your tuna salad a little texture — onions, peppers, pickles, and even tortilla chips can all introduce a bit of crunch. One ever-popular add-in is celery, but if you've just been chopping it up and tossing it into your tuna-mayo mix, you haven't been making the most of it. To make your tuna tastier, try peeling the celery first. It will not only improve the texture but also the flavor, since removing the peel can make the celery taste slightly less bitter.

Now, do you really need to peel celery? Not necessarily, since the entire stalk is edible. The outer, stringy layer can be kind of tough, though, so peeling it is a step worth taking if you have a few minutes to spare. Simply use a Y-shaped peeler to gently remove the darker green outer layer, and if you don't have the tool, you can purchase a vegetable peeler on Amazon for a couple of bucks. You can also use a paring knife for peeling if you prefer.

Those celery peelings – collenchyma cells, they're called — may not taste all that great on their own, but that doesn't mean you need to toss or compost them. These food scraps can still be turned into something both healthy and delicious. All you need to do is toss them into a ziploc bag along with other unwanted vegetable bits, such as onion bits and carrot tops, and meat bones. Keep this stock bag in your freezer. Once it's full and you have some time on your hands, add the contents to a pot full of water and simmer to make a tasty broth.

There may be a few other parts of the celery that you won't be using in your tuna salad, but they need not go to waste, either. Celery leaves can be used in salads and pesto, while the root end of a celery can be used to start a new celery plant. You can do this by soaking the root end, cut off from the stalk, in water for about a week. Only the bottom of the root should be underwater, while the stalk should be above. Put the dish in a sunny spot and change the water daily. After roughly a week, you should start to see some leaves. Plant the root in soil or directly in your garden, and let the leaves grow into a celery plant. Within four months, you should have some actual, edible, celery stalks.