Liyang White Celery

Liyang White Celery

Liyang White Celery is a geographical indication certification trademark.

　　Liyang White Celery is a standout among a variety of flavorsome vegetables. It is grown from water celery through a dry cultivation and softening process, and is named “white celery” due to its jade-like white appearance. The tender stems and leaves of Liyang White Celery can be stir-fried with meat or vegetables, used in salads, or made into fillings. With a sweet, crisp, and tender texture, as well as a crystal-clear and elegant look, it is a popular seasonal dish on dining tables during winter and spring, and is renowned nationwide as a unique delicacy among Jiangnan cuisine.

　　Liyang White Celery belongs to the water celery category. It differs from other water celery and land celery varieties across China. Its stems are thick, white, juicy, and crisp-tender, with fragrant leaves, making it a top-grade celery. Liyang water celery can be served in salads or stir-fried. As a salad, it is crisp and thirst-quenching; when stir-fried, it is tender and delicious. Among these, celery salad and stir-fried celery are complete in color, aroma, taste, and presentation, making them popular seasonal side dishes in winter and spring, and celebrated as a unique delicacy in Jiangnan cuisine.

　　Product Quality Characteristics

　　In other regions of China, water celery is cultivated using a water-based method—planting the seedlings in paddy fields with a certain water depth until harvest. Liyang White Celery, however, is grown using a unique dry farming technique. The water celery seedlings are planted in vegetable fields without a water layer until harvest, which gives the product distinctive characteristics. 1. Product Appearance Characteristics: Liyang White Celery, cultivated through softening techniques, consists of three parts: stem nodes, petioles, and leaf buds. Both the stem nodes and petioles are white, crystal-clear, and glossy, while the leaf buds are slightly pale yellow. This sets it apart significantly from typical water-cultivated, greenish soft celery products. 2. Internal Quality: The moisture content of Liyang White Celery is ≥95%, crude fiber content is ≤0.5% (FW), and amino acid content ranges from 0.719–1.289%. Glutamic acid accounts for 0.166–0.22%. It has a crisp, tender texture with a mildly sweet flavor.

　　V. Specific Production Methods

　　Liyang White Celery, also known as dryland clamp celery, is a cultivation method developed by farmers in Liyang through long-term experience with water celery. It involves a one-time deep soil-covering softening process using dry farming. Soil-covering Softening Process: Begin the soil-covering process 50 to 70 days after sowing, when the plants reach a height of 40 cm to 50 cm. First, use a long bamboo pole to lift the water celery seedlings of two adjacent rows, then place two wooden boards upright at the edges of each row and secure them with small sticks, leaving a gap between the two rows of seedlings exposed. Apply 50 kg to 60 kg per mu of high-quality fertilizer such as fermented soybean meal or cake fertilizer in the row gaps. Then, use a shovel to move soil from the furrows into the gaps between the rows, covering with soil to a height of no less than 30 cm—ideally leaving 5 cm to 10 cm of the celery shoots above the soil surface. Afterward, remove the sticks and proceed to the next row. Promptly cover the seedlings with soil and close any gaps left by the removed sticks to prevent light from reaching the lower and middle parts of the celery plants. Be sure to water appropriately to keep the water level in the furrows at the base of the celery plants. Harvesting can generally begin 30 to 40 days after soil covering. Two harvesting criteria should be observed: first, the majority of the white celery plant has softened and turned white, with many tender yellow leaf buds and new stems; second, the base internodes show little or no development of adventitious roots.