Celeriac – it’s one of those vegetables that just isn’t very pretty, no matter how you look at it.

My favourite description of it has got to be by Joe Hind from the Soil Association, who describes it as “a cross between a brain and a dirty little alien”

Yep! Pretty spot on!

But however it looks, I like to use it when it pops up in my veggie delivery box, as it’s a good honest local food that’s high in dietary fibre, vitamin C, vitamin K, phosphorus, B vits, and potassium. With that little repertoire I’m sure you can forgive its old gnarly appearance.

But what exactly do we do with it? If you eat cooked foods, it can be treated in a similar way to a potato, and the most common recipes I’ve seen are for celeriac mash.

As a raw foodie, however, I like to keep my root veggies crunchy. I often chop up celeriac and juice some along with apple, carrot and ginger.

I also like to grate and marinate it, like I did in the following coleslaw recipe:

Celeriac Coleslaw Recipe

Ingredients:
1 cup grated celeriac
1 cup grated red cabbage
Half an apple, grated
Handful of hazelnuts, chopped
Juice of half a lemon
1 tablespoon hemp oil
1 teaspoon wild garlic powder (optional – I still have loads left over from some wild garlic I foraged last Spring so I pop it in everything!)
Salt and pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients, cover, and leave in the fridge to marinate for a few hours, or overnight. The lemon juice adds a lovely tang. This coleslaw goes really well with mashed avocado (but then again, anything goes really well with mashed avocado!).

Here it is on the side of a courgette noodle and tomato salad. It really livened it up and gave it a nice crunchy texture.

Have you been brave enough to try celeriac yet? If so, what are your favourite ways to eat it? Let me know in the comments below!