Origin and History

• Wild celery was probably used for medicinal purposes hundreds of years before it was used for food.
• When production of celery for medicinal purposes was begun in Europe in the 16th century, it was still a primitive plant, although it had been known for centuries in the Mediterranean area where it probably originated.
• Celery is native to marshy low lands with a habitat that extends from Sweden southward to Algeria, Egypt, Abyssinia and in Asia to the mountains of India.
• Cultivation of the plant for food was first recorded in France in 1623.
• By the early part of the 18th Century, there had been improvement of the wild type of celery previously transported to Italy, France, and England.
• As early as 1726, the plant was being used in England to flavor soups and stews.
• Celery was introduced to North America by European colonists.