Will Texas go celery?

What put me onto this quirky subject was a recent foggy morning walk with Ernie.

We were out in the pastures and into my nostrils wafted a noticeable scent of celery.

Celery?

It has been growing in my raised test-bed since March, and doing very well. However, over twenty-five years have passed since I first started it from seed and I had almost forgotten just how fragrant it is when rooted in the garden bathed in morning mist.

That hit of celery coincided with a visit to Houston and a mandatory visit to Kenny & Ziggy’s New York Deli. Going there for lunch has a component of comfort food: corned beef on rye with a Cel-Ray soda takes me back to growing up ethnic in New York.

So what’s Dr. Brown’s Cel-Ray?

It’s a carbonated celery drink that dates from 1869. Starting as a tonic amongst Jewish immigrants it has maintained a niche market and is irreverently called “Jewish Champagne.”

I can hear the unenlightened saying “Yuck and double-yuck; a soda made from celery?”

Like scotch whiskey it is an acquired taste: you either love it or hate it. [As if the natives in New York City need a celery beverage as another reason for passionate argument.]

A fourth-generation Deli owner there – Niki Russ Federman – can’t take the stuff and admits, “I cannot lie, Cel-Ray gives me no joy……”

A local foodie writer in Queens – Joe Di Stefano – takes the contrary view and proudly boasts that he is a “……card-carrying Cel-Ray lover.”

Count me in too, Joe.

Having to wait weeks between visits to Houston to imbibe this unique drink is getting tough. There is a place on line – where else – which will ship a case anywhere in the contiguous 48 states.

Next time you see me ask if I now have a stash.

Can you imagine a following developing in Texas and HEB stocking it?

Ah, Mr. Manager……………….