Celeriac

Apium graveolens Rapaceum Group

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Celeriac (Apium graveolens Rapaceum Group) (also known as 'turnip-rooted celery' or 'knob celery'), is a specially selected Cultivar Group of celery, grown as a root vegetable for its large and well-developed taproot rather than for its stem and leaves. The root is used when it is about 10-12 cm diameter, or the size a large potato. Celeriac may be used raw or fresh. It is best to peel celeriac before use, since the outer skin is tough and stringy. It has the celery flavor, so it is often used as a flavoring in soups and stews; it can also be mashed or used in casseroles and baked dishes. The hollow stalk of the upper plant can be cut into drinking straw lengths, rinsed out, and used for tomato drinks such as the Bloody Mary. The tomato juice moving through the stalk is lightly permeated with the celery flavor.

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It is not as popular as it might be, especially in the western hemisphere, very possibly owing to its garish appearance before cleaning: it has been described as "a vegetable octopus", owing to the tangle of unsightly rootlets that grow at the base.

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There are numerous cultivars available, especially in Europe, where root vegetables are popular. Among the types are 'Prinz', 'Diamant', 'Ibis', and 'Kojak', which all received Royal Horticultural Society Award of Garden Merit designation in the year 2000 trials.

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Celeriac has good keeping properties, and should last 3 to 4 months if stored between 0? and 5 ?C and not allowed to dry out.

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Cultivar Group: Under the ICNCP, a cultivar group is a gathering of cultivars. There may be several reasons to designate a group, for example a group of yellow-flowering cultivars, a group of cultivars with variegated leaves, a group of cultivars resistant to a particular disease, etc. A cultivar may belong to more...

Celery: Celery (Apium graveolens) is a herbaceous biennial plant in the family Apiaceae, native to the coasts of western and northern Europe, most commonly in ditches and saltmarshes. It grows to 1 m tall, with pinnate to bipinnate leaves with rhombic leaflets 3-6 cm long and 2-4 cm broad. The flowers are c...

Root vegetable: Root vegetables are underground plant parts used as vegetables. They are called root vegetables for lack of a better generic term, but include both true roots such as tuberous roots and taproots, as well as non-roots such as tubers, rhizomes, corms, and bulbs. Several types contain both taproot an...