Creamy and Apple Celery Salad

Lately I’ve been going on about salads, I even wrote a post about the history and different types of salads. The thing about salads, is, lettuce, tomato and cucumber can get boring. Things need to be changed up a bit, and here, is an option. My creamy apple and celery salad is different but delicious

From it’s humble beginnings in ancient Greece as a bowl of spring greens with some vinegar for dressing, to the hundreds of different variations today, the salad has come a long way. But, they can all be divided up into 5 groups; Garden/Green, Bound, Dinner, Fruit and desert. This salad falls into the “bound” category. In as much as it’s various components are bound, or, held together by another ingredient. In the case of potato salad or macaroni salad, that would be mayonnaise, in this case, I’ll use sour cream as the binding agent.

Salads are so much more than a pile of lettuce with a tomato on top. They are a healthy alternative to a lot of other foods. There is only one minor problem, the processed foods we consume are designed to pack a flavor punch. The idea is if you like a food, it tastes great and is conveniently available, you’ll eat more. But studies have shown that processed convenience food is not good for us. So, the healthy alternative has to match up. Easy to make and tastes good. This creamy apple and celery salad is just that.

Flavor wise, there’s a lot going on here. The celery has a crunch, and, an earthy taste with a little bitter bite. The apples have a sweet crunch, and, the raisins are soft and sweet. This is all mixed into sour cream that smooths everything out. Because it’s a bound salad, it stays in one place on the side of the plate.

The whole thing comes together very easily, 2 stalks of celery, chopped very thin. Thin is the key here. The apples have to be sweet, I use Gala, but I’m sure Golden Delicious work too. 2 of them, peeled and cored, cut them into 1/8ths, then slice very thin. The idea with all this slicing thin is that there are no chunks of anything. Two tablespoons of raisins, nice and soft and sweet. Then two tablespoons of sour cream. You can use low fat if needed. Mix everything together and serve as a side. Enjoy, and, thanks for reading