Yamagata celery

The growing area for Yamagata Celery is within Yamagata City. The city’s Yamagata Goseki waterways and groundwater from the Zao range provide the water needed for celery cultivation, an important point for young plants that prefer steady moisture. In this cold-region setting, growers use two greenhouse seasons. The spring crop is harvested roughly from early May to early July, and the autumn crop roughly from early October to early December; Yamagata City also describes local production through these spring and autumn harvest windows.

Local celery cultivation traces back to 1968, when four young growers went to Tokyo’s Edogawa area to learn from Ito Jintaro, a specialist in a crop considered difficult to grow. In 1969, members of that training group began cultivation inside Yamagata City. In 1972, growers formed the organization that became the predecessor of today’s JA Yamagata City Celery Section. When people call this a tradition, the concrete substance is the work kept in Yamagata City: seed saving, greenhouse care, and repeated spring and autumn harvests.

Yamagata Celery keeps its seed within the production area. Skilled growers select well-formed parent plants and collect seed, and JA Yamagata City describes grower seed saving as part of protecting the crop’s flavor and quality boundary. The work begins with sowing and generous watering for moisture-loving seedlings. As the green seedlings grow, growers transplant large numbers by hand, prepare compost-amended soil, remove extra side shoots, and harvest by hand when the plants reach around 60 centimeters tall.

Local production uses two size brands: the large tono celery and the smaller hime celery. Tono celery weighs around 2 kilograms per plant, with many stalks, abundant moisture, and soft strings; hime celery weighs about 700 grams to 1 kilogram, with a smaller shape and a thick, juicy texture. The two sizes give Yamagata Celery different places on the table. A large plant can be peeled into many stalks, while the smaller plant was promoted with the idea of fitting one whole celery plant into a shopping bag; both are described for low bitterness, gentle sweetness, and a mellow aroma.

When a Yamagata Celery plant is peeled from the outside, it yields many stalks. JA Yamagata City presents the leaves, stems, and inner part as edible, so one plant can move beyond salad into dressed sides, lightly marinated dishes, and everyday cooking. One Yamagata City preparation slices celery diagonally, cuts carrot into fine strips, tears smoked squid into thin pieces, mixes everything with French dressing, and chills it for 6 to 12 hours. The dish puts crisp celery, carrot, and smoked flavor in one container, showing the crop’s low bitterness and easy bite.

In 2014, JA Yamagata City and JA Zen-Noh Yamagata launched a project that formed greenhouse complexes and brought new farmers into Yamagata Celery production. The training runs for two years beside experienced growers and centers on the work of greenhouse cultivation, seed saving, crop management, and shipping standards. That system gives younger farmers a path into techniques once carried mainly by experienced hands. A 2025 harvest experience planned by Yamagata Prefecture also used Yamagata Celery as a way for local children to learn regional agriculture in the city where the crop has been grown for about 50 years.

Yamagata Celery’s spring crop often ships in May and June, and its autumn crop often ships in October and November, giving the city a seasonal role between the larger celery regions of Nagano and Shizuoka. Growers began shipping to the Sendai market in 1972 and to the Tokyo market in 1984. A 2018 account describes flows to wholesale markets, cooperatives, and local channels according to season, size, and demand. The point for the reader is agricultural rhythm rather than buying information: a spring-and-autumn celery moving from Yamagata City greenhouses toward different tables.