Celery makes 'Grandma's Penicillin' tasty

KAWASKAI-SHI, Japan, Jan. 21 (UPI) -- Homemade chicken soup -- also known as "Grandma's Penicillin" -- is more appealing to stuffy-nosed cold and flu victims if prepared with plenty of celery.

Kikue Kubota of the Technical Research Center in Kawaskai-shi, Japan, and colleagues note that cooks have long recognized celery's ability to enhance the complex flavors of soups and broths.

The scientists prepared batches of chicken broth with and without a volatile extract from celery. Panels of tasters confirmed the flavor of soup made with celery extract was more intense.

Celery's extract enhanced the sweetness and umami -- meaty or savory -- taste of the broth, even though the extract had virtually no flavor of its own, Kubota said.

The researchers identified three compounds -- called phthalides -- responsible for celery's flavor enhancement. Phthalides may induce beneficial enzymes, inhibit enzymes mediating inflammatory processes, or interact with ion channels

The study, "Flavor Enhancement of Chicken Broth from Boiled Celery Constituents," is published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.