Celery ‘Tall Utah’ – historic variety with strong, crisp stalks.
This open-pollinated celery variety produces strong, juicy stalks with a tender, low-fibre texture and a pleasantly savoury, slightly nutty flavour. The upright plants provide generous harvests and can be picked as needed over an extended period. Their green stalks are delicious both fresh and crisp and in cooked vegetable dishes, while the aromatic leaves provide an additional culinary use. The variety is not self-blanching, but its stalks can also be used green. In Mediterranean regions, cultivation during the milder growing periods is recommended, while in Central European climates the variety is suitable for summer and autumn harvesting.
Origin & History
‘Tall Utah’ is a historic celery variety from the USA, bred by the Ferry-Morse Seed Company in California. It was introduced commercially in 1953 and was developed from older Utah celery strains that had already been valued in the 1920s for their crisp stalks and fine flavour. ‘Tall Utah’ combined these qualities with long, substantial stalks, a well-filled heart and a reduced tendency towards leaf discolouration. It also gained importance in commercial vegetable production because of its resistance at the time to a fungal disease. In affected American growing regions, particularly Michigan, it helped to reduce the substantial crop losses that had previously occurred.
These characteristics established ‘Tall Utah’ as a green celery for the fresh market and home garden. Its juicy, low-fibre stalks could be used without blanching, reflecting the growing importance of green celery varieties. The variety was later also used as breeding material for further cultivars and thus influenced the development of celery beyond its own cultivation. Its distribution was not limited to the USA. It also became established in European horticulture and is now offered by various organic seed suppliers as a proven celery variety. Its strong stalks, densely filled heart and crisp texture have remained characteristic features. More than 70 years after its commercial introduction, ‘Tall Utah’ continues to be propagated as an open-pollinated variety for home gardens and organic vegetable production.
Appearance & Characteristics
The plants develop a vigorous, upright rosette with closely spaced leaf stalks and distinctly pinnate, dark green leaves. At the usual harvesting stage, they reach around 60–75 cm in height. The outer stalks are positioned slightly further apart, while the younger leaves in the centre form a dense heart. The variety is frost-sensitive and should be harvested or protected when frost is forecast. Overwintered plants can produce branched flower stalks bearing small, whitish flowers in umbels in their second year.
Stalk details:
Size: Strong, with leaf stalks around 25–30 cm long
Shape: Broad, longitudinally ribbed and slightly curved inwards
Colour: Light to medium-green stalks and dark green foliage
Texture: Juicy, crisp and low in fibre
Flavour: Savoury, slightly nutty and pleasantly aromatic with a characteristic celery flavour
Usage & Cultivation Highlights
The crisp stalks are suitable for eating raw, adding to salads or serving fresh with dips. Cooked, they add flavour to soups, stews, stir-fries and braised dishes. Finely chopped and combined with other vegetables, they provide an aromatic base for sauces and stocks. The leaves can be used sparingly for seasoning or dried. For longer-term storage, the stalks can also be blanched and frozen, pickled or fermented.
One advantage of this variety is that individual outer stalks can be harvested as needed while the rest of the plant continues to grow. This allows the harvest to be spread over several weeks. The green stalks can be used without additional blanching, simplifying cultivation. Its robust growth and suitability for outdoor cultivation make ‘Tall Utah’ a proven choice for home gardens and self-sufficiency. It can also produce a good crop in sufficiently large containers when provided with a reliable supply of water and nutrients.
Compared with other celery varieties, ‘Tall Utah’ stands out for its strong, green, low-fibre stalks with a pleasantly savoury, slightly nutty flavour. The high-yielding plants allow individual stalks to be harvested repeatedly and are particularly well suited for use as green celery.
