Celeriac ?

[Starlight]

Since, I have no idea what this veggie is, I may not have the right forum.

I'm looking at a new veggie catalog I just got in the mail and I see this funny looking veggie called Celeriac. I have never seen nor heard about it before.

Has anybody grown it, or can tell me kind of what it tastes like and how you eat it.

TIA

[FarmerShawn]

It's closely related to celery, but you eat the bulbous root, which has a lovely celery flavor. Grow it much the same as celery, with similar requirements. The root is hairy (with roots) and looks ugly, requiring much trimming. It's great in soups and stews, or mashed all on its own. I like it a lot, though I don't always have good luck growing it well.

[oakley]

I've started seeds but not sure about its growing needs.

If you like celery like we do you will love it. I've been buying it at my local grocery all winter and it has a full head of leaves like a bouquet of parsley with a large root ball like a beet or rutebaga...4 times the size of a beet.

I've been using it in soups, chowders, salads, slaws. It is firm like a potato. Ugly thing.
Needs peeling but i put the peelings in stock with leek tops and veg chopping that would go into the compost usually but makes a super stock. Made a leek and celery w/ seared salmon chowder last night.

Can be grated or cut into matchsticks. Good raw in salads or cooked. Very nice addition to the garden harvest....

My first year trying to grow so we shall see.

[IronPete]

And here I thought it was a vegetarian disease as in "Oh sorry! No salad for me! I'm a celeriac!" ;-)

[Starlight]

Thanks so much Farmer Shawn and Oakley! Learned a new veggie today. That's a good thing.

Yep, the picture does show this ugly looking veggie, but I do love celery cooked or raw.

I used to think Artichokes were the ugliest thing ever and would never eat, til somebody gave me cooked Artichoke hearts and I discovered they were really good.

Think I will order me some seeds now that I know what it is. I'm learning it never hurts to try something new now that I know how to eat it. I've never seen such a thing here in the South, not even at the market that carries foods from around the world.

Originally Posted by IronPete

And here I thought it was a vegetarian disease as in "Oh sorry! No salad for me! I'm a celeriac!" ;-)

Kinda like Sium sisarum. The veggie that might make you "skirret" to try.

[SueCT]

You can pick it up at the grocery store and try it first, they are available. I have never grown it, but I looked into it because is slightly pricey in the store. I think it takes quite a while to mature if I remember correctly. I use it with regular celery to make a nice cream of celery soup. If you google recipes using it you will often find it mashed alone or mixed with potatoes. I like it.

[Jeannine Anne]

It can take up to a month to germinate and the seed is like dust so be careful you don't sneeze as you are sowing it!! But it is good. Brilliant is an OP good choice. XX Jeannine

[oakley]

And here I thought it was a vegetarian disease as in "Oh sorry! No salad for me! I'm a celeriac!"

Not sure if i started it or not...i should pay some attention to those two veggie trays but the tomatoes are so needy these days It just might be that blank cell i noticed near the cumin and fennel.

It's a very dense root. Our grocery just calls it 'celery root'. Firm like a sweet potato but does not soften up the same way. More like a carrot. Usually about the size of a softball.
Most groceries clean them up but i like the tops and roots for stock...

[Starlight]

Originally Posted by SueCT

You can pick it up at the grocery store and try it first, they are available. I have never grown it, but I looked into it because is slightly pricey in the store. I think it takes quite a while to mature if I remember correctly. I use it with regular celery to make a nice cream of celery soup. If you google recipes using it you will often find it mashed alone or mixed with potatoes. I like it.

I'll have to keep a closer eye out in the grocery store. We don't have much of a choice here to shop. Basically all that is around here is Walmart and Piggly Wiggly. Piggly Wiggly has like half the selections of Walmart. It's about 50 miles one way to find a Kroger store.

Good grief. You are right. 110 to 200 hundred days to mature. I wonder if I can keep something alive that long down here in the South.

Originally Posted by Jeannine Anne

It can take up to a month to germinate and the seed is like dust so be careful you don't sneeze as you are sowing it!! But it is good. Brilliant is an OP good choice. XX Jeannine

Thanks for the warning. I have done that before. Had a sneeze come out of no where and looked down to discover the seeds are no where to be found. How do you start your seeds, please. Usually all my seed a start in small 1/2" x 1/2" seed trays and then put in a baggy under lights, but with that long of possible germination and the amount of moisture that builds in the baggy, I wonder if they would rot on me before sprouting?

Originally Posted by oakley

Not sure if i started it or not...i should pay some attention to those two veggie trays but the tomatoes are so needy these days It just might be that blank cell i noticed near the cumin and fennel.

It's a very dense root. Our grocery just calls it 'celery root'. Firm like a sweet potato but does not soften up the same way. More like a carrot. Usually about the size of a softball.
Most groceries clean them up but i like the tops and roots for stock...

Oh my! Now I can see why you say it takes a bit of work to clean them up. Pic in catalog sure doesn't look like that. They must have cleaned theirs up.


What kind of weather temps do you folks usually have when growing Celeriac? We usually have 5 months of unreal heat and humidty which will be starting soon, ( if rains ever stop grrrrrrr) and temps mostly in 90's to 118F.

I wonder if I would need to start seeds in like June or July if they take that long to germinate. We do start getting cooler temps starting in Aug and generally won't have a frost until sometime in Dec or Jan depending on weather.I do have a shade area I could put them under to help keep cool and a small fan.

Another dumb question for you all. I have to grow in containers here. Is that all the bigger the roots get, or are they trimmed back in pic? I'm wondering what size of a container I would need to use.

[oakley]

Nope. Did not sow the seeds. Found the packet filed under 'complicated'. With all the other dust seeds. I meant to start a tray of those fussy ones a while ago. The packet was tampered with so i must have tried last year.

Yes, that is pretty much the root system but i've read they do need some room but most important is how heavy feeders they are and like to be kept wet.

Just one goes a long way for us. I think i've only purchased 4 since Thanksgiving. A long keeper in the crisper drawer. I'll slice off a chunk and matchstick or grate a cup for a lemon slaw with apples, cabbage, ginger etc.

Maby i'm just too impatient for the slow guys.
Tomato seeds up in 4 days. Imagine my glee when i discovered micro greens...on the dinner plate in 7-10 days.

[MrBig46]

Czech cuisine is not without root vegetables (carrots, root parsley, celery). It gives to each soups and for cooking the most popular Czech food celery is necessary.
To grow up nice root (at least six inches in diameter) must be the seed sown very early (in January) and the seedlings must be transplanted twice. Cultivation is more demanding than carrots or root parsley.
Vladimír

[oakley]

My seeds were organized, briefly, over the last holidays in December.
I should have started seeds back then. I was anxious to get going anyway. They would get the proper attention if i start them around x-mas.

Correction about 'celery root'. My grocery calls them celery 'knob'. (on the lower shelf) and celery 'knob stalk' with the roots and green tops attached.
1.49 lb isn't too bad.

[oakley]

6.99 lb for rhubarb
I could buy a new car with just my mother plant.

[Jeannine Anne]

I start indoors under lights from about March to May, barely cover the seed .I use modules and try to sow about 3 or4 to a pot, then thin to the strongest. Transplant when about 4 inches tall about 12 inches apart, rows 18 inches, water often, It likes rich moist soil and is a heavy feed so use whatever fertilizer you prefer. They are pretty easy once they are germinated, then look after them pretty much like celery really. They can bolt early as young plants if the temperature goes down and stays down for a few days the fifties maybe, oh and if you have a carrot rust fly problem they could yake a fancy to it too. That's all I know.

XX Jeannine

[SueCT]

Oakley, that is the most awesome grocery store I have ever seen and I would almost move just to live near one, lol. What store is that? I am lucky to find the celery root without the green tops in 1 or 2 of the 3 or 4 local grocers. None of them look like that.