Tell me all about celeriac!

[catjac1975]

I am trying celeriac for the first time. Do I start it indoors or is it direct sown. Is it acid loving? How do you harvest it? Does it keep well in the garden until you use it? Do you like it as well as celery? What about pests? Tell me your secrets.
Cathy

 

[baymule]

 

[lesa]

Steve is the expert- hopefully he will chime in!

 

[digitS']

Once I find the thread!!

It is a slow growing critter so an indoor start certainly seems to be important here. I'd be curious to know if it would do okay direct-sown. Celeriac just seems to come to a full stop in hot weather.

My garden soil is higher pH, even the well water is here. I was kind of surprised that celeriac does okay but mostly I was thinking about the arid summers

How do I harvest it? It is one of the ugliest vegetables known! The roots form this tangled mess and come out in all directions from the bulb. You shouldn't do much more than hosing it off with a strong jet of water. Too much pruning, getting those roots off the bulb, won't be good for storage. And, I really don't know how well it would keep in the winter garden . . . Celeriac will stay for months and months in your crisper drawer and I have buried the bulbs with the carrots in an insulted pit, outdoors. That isn't quite the same as leaving it where it grew. Undamaged, it will stay around, seems like, forever!

It really doesn't seem to have any problems with pests. I must be wrong but it's like I can set the plants out there and other than keep the weeds away from them and providing some water - they only need a full growing season in fertile soil and, that's about it.

Do I like it as well as celery? Well Cathy, celery flavor is just fine but I don't value the stalks a whole lot. Celeriac is like a potato. It's food! . . . with the flavor of celery .

Steve

 

[catjac1975]

Great thanks!

 

[Smart Red]

I wish I could be more help but I've never even had celeric much less grown it. Celery does not like me or my garden either.

I know how to start celeric and I know what to do at the end, but growing it is beyond my meager abilities ... so far.

 

[thistlebloom]

I'm still picturing Steve hurling insults at his pit!....

 

[seedcorn]

How do you eat it? How do you use it?

 

[digitS']

I have grown quite a bit of it, some years. Still, my use for celeriac is uncomplicated. I understand that it can be shredded and eaten raw but I've had many months of salads by the time the celeriac is harvested. Somehow, it seems a little indigestible, raw.

It goes in with the other veggies, in the oven with a beef roast. Cut up, those veggies can make up that same company in a stew.

Mostly, I have it in the mashed potatoes - about 3 or 4 to one of the celery root. It really adds a nice flavor to the potatoes.

Steve

 

[seedcorn]

Any way to describe flavor?