Celery root, also known as celeriac, is not the root of our common everyday celery plant, but rather another variety of celery grown especially for the root. That’s probably why this knobby baseball-sized root vegetable is not so common in American markets. It has a mild celery flavor and is eaten both raw and cooked. It’s tasty and easy to use.

Celery root is too irregular to peel, so the outer surface is sliced away.

Recipes often call for the celeriac to be mashed with potatoes. I started the root cooking and after it had been simmering for about five minutes then added an equal part of potatoes. The mixture cooked up nicely and mashed without a problem.

It was delicious. It’s good to find an interesting ingredient that can be prepared without any fuss. I suspect the celery root would be fine without the potatoes. It has the potential advantage of being unusually low in starch for a root vegetable.

One variation of the celeriac and potato mash adds olive oil and vanilla. Another variation adds an apple. Our recipe search engine produces many recipes for soups and salads as well.