Celery leaves? Are they even really edible?

During warmer days, one of my favorite snacks usually involves celery sticks. They're so full of water, they match melons for cooling effect and as a bonus provide a nice crunch. Celery sticks with tuna salad, celery sticks dunked in ranch dressing or peanut sauce - I love them all. But it didn't occur to me that I really should've figured out what to do with the tops a long time ago. Mine have always headed to the compost pail, except on the very off-chance I was making stew, where a a few obligatory pieces could be tossed in for frugality points; but I could never use it all due to celery's strong (and for some, hated) flavor.

This time I did a quick search on the internet. I learned that basically anything you can do with parsley you can substitute with celery leaves, or so it was claimed. One of the favorite ways recommended was to make a pesto. Leery, I thought I'd try to make it and ended up being quite pleased with the way it turned out. I first pulsed a mix of walnuts and mostly pine nuts, several cloves of garlic and a little salt into the food processor; then added the pale, inspid celery tops and leaves until a paste formed, added fresh ground pepper and a squirt of lemon juice; then drizzled in the virgin olive oil. No one had mentioned lemon juice; I just thought it might add a bright undertone. My pesto was a little thin, but I was surprised to find the celery flavor not that intense at all (it was mitigated a lot by the pine nuts, I think); it did retain some of celery's peppery-ness which I liked, and the lemon turned out to be a good choice. It's a different twist on the usual pesto and will probably be dynamite on pasta with chopped tomatoes and shreds of parmesan cheese or, of course, used as a dressing for pasta or chickpea salads, where you might already have celery as an ingredient.

It's funny where internet searches can take you. I almost got off track with this story about a man who fancied himself a cook but was brought to his knees by a recipe instructing fried celery leaves. Although more appropriate for winter, it's still good fun to read. Check it out: Chowderhead: The New York Times recipe that unmanned me, and also turned me into a man.