'Not like the celery sold at the grocery store'

"This is not like the celery sold at the grocery store," said Kelly Olinger, the friendly face behind the Urban Farms stand at the City of White Bear Lake Farmers Market. No kidding. Jerry and Debbie Urban raise a huge variety of vegetables at their Vadnais Heights farm, but it was their long, leafy and seriously crispy celery that caught my eye. And my nose: The scent was intensely bright, matching the stalks' green-as-grass color. Suddenly I was seeing a taken-for granted staple in a whole new way.

Olinger said that the tender leaves are ideal in soups and salads, and that one of her customers swears by the pesto she makes using the farm's celery. At $1.50 per bunch, it was clearly one of the market's runaway values, particularly given its labor-intensive demands: To capture a shopper's attention in August, it must start as a pampered greenhouse seed in February and be transplanted several times, by hand. "For all the work that goes into it, this celery is downright cheap," said Olinger. I'd call it priceless.

RICK NELSON

Urban Farms sells at the City of White Bear Lake Farmers Market, Washington Av. between 3rd and 4th Sts., whitebearlake.org, 8 a.m. to noon Fridays. For a complete list of Twin Cities metro area farmers markets, go to startribune.com/taste.

RICK NELSON • Star Tribune