Cocktails with Celery juice
Celery juice is the thin, watery liquid pressed from celery stalks.
How it's used
It gives a drink freshness and a saline vegetal note, above all in a Bloody Mary and other savory drinks. It sits well with vodka, gin, tomato, cucumber and citrus.
Substitutes for Celery juice
Fresh juice is easy: juice the stalks, or blend chopped stalks with a splash of water. Strain through a fine sieve and use it the same day. Cucumber juice works one for one. Per 30 ml, add about 6–7 drops of 20% saline (or a tiny pinch of salt) for celery's natural salt. A dash of celery bitters brings back the aroma.
Celery salt
Salt mixed with ground celery seed: a pinch seasons, but it adds no liquid, so make up the volume with cucumber juice or water.
Celery bitters
A few dashes carry the celery aroma but add no liquid, so they season a drink rather than lengthen it.
Cucumber juice
The same watery freshness, but almost no salt: 2 mg of sodium per 100 g, where celery has 80–97 mg.
Storage
Fresh juice keeps a day refrigerated and loses its freshness quickly. Bottled juice is pasteurized, so it lasts longer and tastes notably duller.
