Is Celeriac worth growing as a celery replacement?

Has anyone grown and tasted Celeriac (Apium graveolens var. rapaceum)? Can it be used as a celery replacement in recipes? For example would it work if you wanted to cook mirepoix or in tomato juice (V-8 type) recipes? Can it be grown successfully in zone 4a?

Your comments and experience will be appreciated.

Jefe

I had trouble getting it to grow. I bought a plant of it and it just didn't thrive.

I'm going to try it from seed. Also trying something called Par-Cel which is a parsley that tastes like celery. http://seeds.thompson-morgan.com/us/en/product/609/1?SA=1113 And I hope to grow some celery French Dinant again. It isn't quite as finicky as standard celery. The stalks are thinner, not so useful for stuffing, but flavor is a little more intense. Yuska

Yuska,

Would the French Dinant have time to grow up here in the "tundra" of zone 4?

Jefe

Gee, I don't know. It has been several years since I last grew it,and I didn't take any notes on days to maturity. Celery does prefer temps cooler than what we have here (I will put it in a bed with afternoon shade and mulch to cool the soil a bit). As best I can recall the last time, I started the seeds in March and had some plants large enough to start using about mid-June. The only source for it, to my knowledge, is Nichols Garden Nursery in Albany Oregon. I wish I had a few seeds to send you, but I've already started my packet in a seed tray. Sorry I can't be more helpful. Yuska

Yuska, thanks for the celery feedback. The fact the you need to keep it in afternoon shade would be positive for our generally cooler climate. However, we can easily reach 105 degrees during the heat of the summer. But, the fact that you started harvesting in mid-June after planting in March would certainly seem to indicate a longer growing season than we would reliably have here.

From information I gathered from Seed To Seed (a book my wife gave me for our anniversary) it would seem that we can't grow celery, but we can grow celeraic. However, there seems to be a real shortage of information on growing celeraic in the North.

Seed to Seed - by Suzanne Ashworth? Great book - I've traded seeds with her through SSE in years past.

I'll try to keep track of what happens here (if anything!) with celeriac, though the information may be of little value for your area. You might try e-mailing the customer service departments of some of the northernmost seedhouses and ask how they grow it. (Jung's, Gurney's, Henry Field's, Shumway's, Johnny's, etc.) Good luck!

Hi Jefe,

I'm in hi desert country. Zone 8a. Celeriac did well here when planted in Sept. By April/May I was harvested decent size roots. Not as big as those in the store. The flavor is definitely celery. The crisp stalk texture isn't there. The texture is more like Jicama or raw turnip. It was a good addition to soups and stews as a celery substitute. I never tried juice but I think it would work well. The flavor is not strong or overwhelming. Just tastes like celery. It may actually produce better in a cooler zone where it would it could be started in pots and transplanted to have cooler summers and then mature into fall??

Chris

Chris,

Thanks for taking care of the "flavor" component to the question. No point in growing something that doesn't taste good.

There must not be too many experienced celeraic growers in the North. Maybe I'll just have to experiment.

Jefe

Jefe...it's too hot here in the summer to grow celery. (NC, hot South!) Does it get really hot in MN during the summer as well?

Also, celery takes quite a while to mature and I was wondering how long your growing season is. (I love celery! Wish I could grow my own!)

Have never tried celeriac (that I can remember, anyway). Please post if you decide to grow either celery or celeriac. Would love to hear of the outcome.

I'll put in my 2¢'s worth.
I grew celery different times. Just the standard varities. Started them inside in March. Put them out mid-May. If you don't blanch the stalks, they stay very dark green. Gets a very heavy celery taste. Not much good to eat raw, but great to flavor things. Ours always stayed more crunchy when cooked.
Oh, I forgot to mention, I started harvesting in August. They were fine until a fairly hard frost, (15º).
I quite messing with it because people were reluctant to buy it. One fellow that buys lots of things from us, always bought some. He has to make juice of all his veggies because of some medical reason. He said it made wonderful juice.
The U of MN tried a celery growing venture one year in the Red River Valley.
Not sure how it came out, the thing they forgot about was having a market. Researchers seem to miss that point a lot! LOL. They claimed the climate was ideal for growing celery.

Shoe, ya-sure, ya-bet-ya, it gets hot here in the summer. I've seen lots of over 100º in my lifetime. I think the average is around 25 days over 100º per summer. Our days are longer in the summer, too, so we get more heat each day!
Bernie

Zowie, Bernie...I had no idea it got so hot there. If you grew celery there I think you did good. When I last grew it it was very tough (and yes, dark green); I chalked it up to the extreme heat and possibly lack of water (my fault).

Wish it matured in a shorter period of time so I could grow it as a Fall crop. (Love celery w/ cream cheese, celery with peanut butter, etc!)

Horshoe,

Thanks for the input. It sure sounds like celery doesn't like heat. Everywhere I look celery is listed as a cool season crop and difficult to grow. Would shade cloth over the top help or just cook it underneath?


Bernie/CountryGardens,

You proved you are from Minnesota for-sure-there, you betcha'.

As to your comment regarding the U of M research venture of starting growing celery without a market...what a surprise that would be! Market? What's that? "We're spending other people’s money. We don't need no stinkin' market!"

"They claimed the climate was ideal for growing celery." This is key information you've provided. They also grow it in Michigan. I saw a site that says that Kalamazoo, MI became known, and promoted itself, as the "Celery City". Does the lake effect keep the area that much cooler than us in MN? NY is listed as one of the top six states on other listings. If they can grow it, why can't I grow it too? I think from all these comments I can grow the real thing.

Should I start the seed inside for transplants? Is it worth the space they would take up? I realize the stuff is relatively cheap, but I'd sure like to eat some that isn't a toxic dump of pesticide and herbicide. I'm guessing that most of the commercially grown stuff is nuked regularly.

As far as being really green and strong tasting, that would be perfect for my “Jefe’s T-10 Vegetable Juice.”

Thanks a bunch. Any other celery growing tips will be appreciated.

Jefe

I remember someone from Michigan saying they only had a couple of 90º days. That's a lot cooler than around here.
Start with transplants, they don't need very big pots. It should do well up your way with your long days. I might try some again this year. Markets always change.
Bernie

Jefe, Farmerdill has posted some really useful links on this thread, I think you might want to take a look at whats there.

http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/492731/#new

Janet

while on the subject of Apium Graveolens, check this link http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/486416/ scroll down to my posting of 03/16/05 12:34 a.m. u might pick up some pointers thru links posted.