Kohlrabi???

Pretty sure it's celeriac, 'cause I'm planning to try growing it one of these "days!" Think I may even have some seeds laying around here somewhere! Wish I could taste one of yours, Digit!

Skybird

P.S. But I highly recommend kohlrabis too, especially 'Kossack' which "lasts" all summer, no matter how hot it gets, and can get absolutely HUGE and still be sweet and tender.

Yep,

It is celery root.

Exactly the same flavor as celery. (It IS celery, just a variety.) The difference is that the roots are starchy! Cooks about the same as potatoes and makes a lovely addition to your "mashed potatoes."

Seems like there should be a special name for mashed potatoes with celeriac . . . Yes, something like what the British do with that tasty dish of mashed potatoes and cabbage: Bubbles & Squeek.

It is a wonderful world that we live in . . . .

Steve

I have often thought of growing celeric to use as a substitute for celery. Can it be used as a celery substitute in cooking? Also, how well does it store? I have never seen it for sale in any of the supermarkets so I haven't been able to even taste it.

To find it in the produce aisles, you may have to go to an organic grocery in a larger city, Mla2ofus.

It stores impossibly well! It is best, if you want it in the crisper drawer of your fridge for months & months, to NOT cut off the roots. I have simply placed it in a pit in the ground, covered it with soil and pine needles, and left it thru the winter. This is how I store carrots. It will begin to grow before the carrots but this storage works well.

Flavor. It really is celery. The stems are coarse, however. I am sure that the stems & leaves can be used to flavor things. The roots taste like celery, nothing else that I can detect. Just starchy, much like a potato . . .

Steve

Very nice, Steve. Like Skybird, that has always been on my "one of these days" lists.

I did have a good harvest of the cutting celery this year and it has proven rather hardy with the cold temps, so I'm pleased.

And I couldn't grow cutting celery this year for anything, Jali! Had 3 seedlings which were small but looking really good, and shortly after I put them in the ground they ALL laid down and died! In the past it's been very easy to grow for me, and it was just plain weird! Growing-wise they're like parsley, and they can take the cold as well as parsley, so they'll be fine over winter and will get going early next spring--but, also like parsley, they're apparently a biennial, and they'll start to go to seed very soon after they get going next year. Good idea to start more every year. (Parsley was another weird one for me this year! I absolutely couldn't get the stuff to germinate! Don't remember how many I wound up trying, and did eventually wind up with a couple of them--which, at least, did not lay down and die when they got planted out!)

When you've posted about celeriac in the past, Digit, I was sorta thinking it might be good cut up in chunks and then roasted (coated with oil) in a pretty hot oven to get it brown and toasty on the outside--maybe roasted with other root crops--carrots, parsnips, potatoes--for a roasted fall veggie dish. Have you ever tried them like that, with or without the other veggies? Could add some cubed winter squash, and maybe some sweet onions! I bet mashing some with potatoes like you've been doing and then browning the top under the broiler would be good too! Might see if I can find some at a Whole Foods or somewhere and give it a try!

Skybird

One reason I wanted to "accent" the celeriac this year was because I didn't grow either parsnips or leeks . . .

A mistake - especially with the leeks. I make quite a lot of winter soup and all of these, with potatoes, onions, shallots, garlic, winter squash (what have I left out?) are wonderful in soups. Roasted also, yes indeed.

Parsnips are hit or miss and it seems to have to do with variety selection. All American may be okay for some "American" gardens but the plants were the most variable in growth. I have grown some varieties that looked fine but were bitter!!

Gladiator came thru well several season but the British seem to have "a few too many" varieties for me to be tempted with (true of leeks, too). Thompson & Morgan have a "Tender and True" now! I am too influenced by names or, I can't decide and wait too long. That seed needs to go in early.

My one attempt, many years ago, to grow stalk celery ended in complete failure. I didn't have a greenhouse then and relied on a south window. Also thought I'd have a good chance because of cool springs and celery's appreciation for cool weather. Didn't work.

Celeriac was on a whim, parsnips were expected to be about like little white carrots, and I didn't think I could grow leeks, at all! For the most part, they have all done fine! And, my winter comfort food menu has benefited greatly.

Steve