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Celeriac, aka celery root, may not be the prettiest vegetable on the produce display—but don’t be put off by its brown, knobby exterior. The white flesh within is distinctive, sweet and very versatile. Read on to learn everything you need to know to enjoy the funny-looking root vegetable, including selection and storage tips, easy ways to prepare it, and how to include it in your favorite recipes.

What Is Celeriac?

Celeriac is a type of celery grown for its root rather than its stalks. It’s a popular vegetable in Europe and North Africa, where it’s a favorite in salads, soups, and stews. The slow-maturing veggies are planted in the spring then harvested in the fall and winter. Like leeks, celeriac is often left in the ground and harvested as needed. Once peeled, celeriac can be used raw like a carrot or cooked like a potato.

How to Pronounce It

“Celeriac” is pronounced suh-LEHR-ee-ack.

What Does Celeriac Taste Like?

Celeriac’s flavor is sweet and nutty with a distinctive celery flavor. Unlike many root vegetables, it has a relatively low starch content. Its pale, fine-grained flesh is firm and crunchy when raw, creamy and slightly fibrous when cooked. One of the reasons it’s such a popular soup and stew ingredient is because it simultaneously lends its taste to cooking liquids and absorbs the flavors of other ingredients.

How Do You Cook with Celeriac?

Boil it, steam it, roast it, mash it—anything you can do with a potato or sweet potato, you can also do with celery root. In fact, you can use celeriac to replace some or all of the potatoes called for in most recipes.

Celeriac is also an ideal option for oil-free roasting. The veggie’s high moisture content allows it to cook through and brown well without turning mushy (much like cauliflower). Give it a try by roasting peeled cubes of celeriac on a parchment or silicone mat-lined baking sheet for 30 to 35 minutes at 375˚F. Or make roasted veggie steaks which are seasoned with just a hint of sherry vinegar.

Celeriac’s low-starch nutritional profile means it can be blended into a smooth purée without turning stiff or gummy. Try blending it to make Creamy Celeriac Pasta Alfredo, in which peeled and steamed celeriac is blended with pine nuts, sautéed onion and garlic, nutritional yeast, and a little plant milk for a low-fat vegan Alfredo sauce.

Raw celeriac is wonderful when grated and used in salads. Grated celeriac can be used in place of or in addition to grated carrots and beets or shredded cabbage in most recipes. Give it a try in our Moroccan Carrot-Beet Salad or Veggie and Apple Slaw.

How to Roast a Whole Celeriac

Roasted celery root makes a stunning side dish, though takes a while to cook. First, scrub it well to remove any dirt, then wrap in foil and roast in a 400˚F oven for 1½ to 2 hours. Remove the foil, and roast it 20 to 30 minutes more, or until the skin is crisp and it feels soft, like a baked potato. Cut the roasted celeriac in wedges, or slice off the top and scoop out the soft flesh in the center and serve like mashed potatoes.

How to Peel and Prep Celeriac

You’ll need a sharp knife to deal with celeriac’s rough, rooty exterior. Here’s how to prep it:

1. Trim the stalk end of the celeriac to remove any stalks still attached to the root and reveal the white flesh inside. The stalks and leaves are edible and can be used to flavor dishes like fresh herbs. They are usually too bitter and stringy to use in place of celery stalks.

2. Cut the celeriac in half, lengthwise or widthwise depending on its size and shape. (It doesn’t matter which way you cut the root; you just need to have a flat side to stabilize the vegetable on your work surface.) Set one celeriac half cut-side-down on a cutting board, and slice off the skin and any roots in large strips using a chef’s knife or paring knife. Discard the skin (or use it in a vegetable broth), then cut or grate the flesh as desired.

Tip: Once celeriac has been peeled, it begins to brown, like an apple. The discoloration won’t affect the veggie’s flavor, but if you want your cut or grated celeriac to remain creamy white, dunk it into a solution of 2 tablespoons lemon juice or vinegar and 4 cups water. Cut celeriac can be stored for three days in this acidulated water.

Selection and Storage

Celery root is available year-round in the refrigerated section of most well-stocked supermarkets and at farmers markets during the cooler months.

Choose celeriac roots with smooth, unblemished skin. The root should feel rock hard and be at least 3 to 4 inches in diameter. Smaller specimens don’t have much flesh on them after the outer skin is trimmed away, while larger roots can be stringy and bitter.

Store in a paper bag or breathable container in the fridge crisper drawer for up to 3 weeks.

Celeriac Recipes

Ready to get cooking? Try one of these fresh and tasty celeriac recipes from Forks Over Knives!

Learn more essential kitchen skills and become a plant-based home chef in 90 days with the Forks Over Knives Cooking Course!

How do contamination rates for antibiotic-resistant E. coli and ExPEC bacteria that cause urinary tract infections compare in kosher chicken versus organic chicken?

Millions of Americans come down with bladder infections or urinary tract infections every year, including more than a million children. Most cases stay in the bladder, but when the bacteria creep up into the kidneys or get into the bloodstream, things can get serious. Thankfully, we have antibiotics, but there is now a pandemic of a new multidrug-resistant strain of E. coli. Discovered in 2008, this so-called ST131 strain has gone from being unknown to now being a leading cause of bladder infections the world over and is even resistant to some of our second- and third-line antibiotics. What’s more, it’s been found in retail chicken breasts sampled from across the country, “document[ing] a persisting reservoir of extensively antimicrobial-resistant ExPEC isolates,” or bacteria—that is, the extra-intestinal pathogenic E. coli, including the ST131 strain—“in retail chicken products in the United States, suggesting a potential public health threat.” I discuss this in my video Friday Favorites: What About Kosher and Organic Chicken?.

Urinary tract infections may be foodborne, predominantly from eating poultry, such as chicken or turkey, so maybe we shouldn’t be feeding antibiotics to these animals by the tons in poultry production. Hold on. Foodborne bladder infections? What are you doing with that drumstick? Indeed, eating contaminated chicken can lead to the colonization of the rectum with these bacteria that can then, even months later, crawl up into the bladder to cause an infection.

“The problem of increasing AMR [anti-microbial resistance] is so dire that some experts are predicting that the era of antibiotics may be coming to an end, ushering in a post-antibiotic era…in which common infections and minor injuries can kill” once again. More than 80 percent of E. coli isolated from beef, pork, and poultry exhibited resistance to at least one antibiotic, and more than half isolated from poultry were resistant to five different drugs. One of the ways this happens is that viruses, called bacteriophages, can transfer antibiotic-resistant genes between bacteria. About a quarter of these viruses isolated from chicken were found to be able to transduce antibiotic drug resistance into E. coli. And one of the big problems with this is that “disinfectants used to kill bacteria are, in many cases, not able to eliminate bacteriophages,” these viruses. Some of these viruses are even resistant to bleach at the kinds of concentrations used in the food industry; likewise, alcohol, which is found in many hand sanitizers, is also unable to harm most of them.

The irony is that the industry has tried to intentionally feed these viruses to chickens. Why would it do that? They can boost egg production in hens and increase bodyweight gain in broiler (meat-type) chickens to get them to slaughter weight faster. The only thing that seems to dissuade the industry is any practice that affects the taste of the meat. That’s why the industry stopped spraying chickens with benzene to try to kill off all of the parasites. The meat ended up with a “distasteful flavor,” described as “strong, acidic, musty, medicinal, biting, objectionable, and good.” Good?!

What about organic chicken? For another type of bacteria, Enterococcus, antibiotic-resistant bugs were found in both conventional and organically raised chicken but were less common in organic. A study found that only about one in three organic chickens were contaminated with drug-resistant bugs compared to nearly one in two conventionally raised birds. But in a study of hundreds of prepackaged retail chicken breasts tested from 99 grocery stores, carrying the organic or antibiotic-free label did not seem to impact the contamination levels of antibiotic-resistant E. coli from fresh retail chicken. Purchasing meat from natural food stores appeared to be safer, however, regardless of how it was labeled.

Kosher chicken appeared to be the worst, with nearly twice the level of antibiotic-resistant E. coli contamination compared to conventional chicken, which goes against the whole concept of kosher. As you can see in the graph below and at 4:17 in my video, there was no difference in drug resistance between the E. coli swabbed from conventionally raised chickens versus chickens raised organically and without antibiotics, but, either way, kosher was worse. But how could organic and raised-without-antibiotics chickens not be better? Well, it could be cross-contamination at the slaughter plants, so bugs just jump from one chicken carcass to the next.

Or it could be the organic chicken loophole. USDA organic standards prohibit the use of antibiotics in poultry starting on day two of the animal’s life. “This is an important loophole” because even antibiotics “considered critical for human health” are routinely injected into one-day-old chicks and eggs, which has been directly associated with antibiotic-resistant foodborne infections.

What’s more, there was no difference in the presence of ExPEC bacteria—the bacteria implicated in urinary tract infections—between organic and conventional chicken. “These findings suggest that retail chicken products in the United States, even if they are labeled ‘organic,’ pose a potential health threat to consumers because they are contaminated with extensively antibiotic-resistant and, presumably, virulent E. coli isolates.” Indeed, even if we were able to get the poultry industry to stop using antibiotics, the contamination of chicken meat with ExPEC bacteria could still remain a threat.

For much of my adult life, I carried 50 to 60 pounds excess weight. I’m 5-foot-3, and at my heaviest, I weighed 198 pounds. I used various fad diets to shed some of it every decade or so, but it always came back. Keto worked the best in terms of weight-loss, but only temporarily, and it made my lab numbers much worse. I have a family history of heart disease and had struggled with high blood pressure and high cholesterol for the previous three decades. Eating all that saturated fat and cholesterol, I was playing with fire. Plus, I missed eating fruits, grains, and vegetables.

Exercise didn’t work, either. I always maintained gym memberships. I had a walking buddy, with whom I walked religiously during warmer months. At one time, I could bench-press more than my 15-year-old son and do 25 consecutive flat-backed pushups, but I still weighed 175 pounds.

At 52, I decided to go vegan, but I ate a lot of highly processed vegan junk foods. Around that time, I gave up on losing weight. It was simply too much work to try to keep the weight off.

Stumbling Across a Surprising Solution

A few years ago, my doctor began pushing me toward statins to lower my cholesterol, as well as medications to address my prediabetes. I was already on medication to lower my blood pressure. I desperately wanted to avoid more meds. Then I met someone who told me that he lost 70 pounds by eating only potatoes. Potatoes?! I was shocked: Didn’t potatoes make you fat? He told me about The Starch Solution by John McDougall, MD. This sounded like the type of thing I could do. I went home and read everything I could about Dr. McDougall and learned about the benefits of a whole-food, plant-based (WFPB) diet. I wanted so badly not just to lose weight but to lower my cholesterol, lower my blood pressure, and prevent Type 2 diabetes.

I decided to jump into a WFPB diet. I stuck to it strictly from the outset, because I wanted the weight loss and the health gains, and I didn’t want anything to pollute the results.

I knew that the results would take some time, and that was OK. It was more about learning how to do this every day and maintain the lifestyle for the long run. So I focused on learning to be happy with what I ate. Weaning off of highly processed foods wasn’t easy, and the first week was really hard, but the second week got a little easier, and from there my palate adjusted pretty quickly. I found that following a WFPB diet strictly, rather than “dabbling” in oil and ultraprocessed foods, was helpful, as it helped my taste buds adjust rather than stay hooked on unhealthy stuff.

A month after starting this way of eating, I had my annual checkup. My doctor was shocked, saying I’d had the largest drop in LDL cholesterol she had ever seen in her career that wasn’t due to medication. My blood pressure was normal, and my A1C was fine, too: I was no longer prediabetic.

The diet resolved some other issues I’d struggled with, like sleep apnea and headaches, and I even noticed a difference in my skin. In the past, the heels of my feet were thick and cracked. Sometimes, if the cracks opened too much, it would get very painful to walk. After going WFPB, they became more supple and soft, with no more fissures! That was a big relief.

Staying Committed to the WFPB Lifestyle

Today I’m 65 years old and don’t need any medications. I lost 44 pounds in the first year of eating WFPB and 10 more pounds the second year, and I’ve maintained most of that weight loss in the year since. I feel that I still have about 15 pounds to lose. As an older postmenopausal woman, it’s coming off extremely slowly. Because I’m trying to lose weight, I limit heavier WFPB-compliant foods such as whole grain bread and tofu.

I’ve had some age-related arthritis flare-ups, but they went away almost as quickly as they came. Added sugar and salt both seem to aggravate my arthritis, so I’ve also done the hard work of eliminating those from my diet. Going salt-free has been a struggle. However, I’m in support groups with many people who assure me that it gets easier as your palate adjusts.

Getting Better Together

My husband adopted a WFPB lifestyle about a year after I did, after suffering a heart attack. attack. He’s lost 70 pounds. He also ditched migraines, heartburn, gastric reflux, and arthritis pain, and his chronic eczema is almost gone. Since he’s a heart attack survivor, he still has to take statins, but he’s hoping he might eventually be able to get off of those. Because of the cardiovascular disease, my husband and I have been strictly following the dietary recommendations of Caldwell Esselstyn, MD. That means eating six servings of greens every day, 365 days a year.

My daughter was so impressed with our health transformations that she decided to give WFPB a try, too, and she’s lost 40 pounds. All three of us have much more energy. My husband and I now look forward to walking our dog 2 to 4 miles a day (or more, if we have time). We take lots of rigorous hikes.

I’m so excited by all this renewal, I started a group online to share recipes, tips, and progress. My WFPB friends and family members love the way we eat, because we just feel so much better.

Ready to get started? Check out Forks Meal Planner, FOK’s easy weekly meal-planning tool to keep you on a healthy plant-based path. To learn more about a whole-food, plant-based diet, visit our Plant-Based Primer.

What is low-acid coffee? Does it help those who suffer from acid reflux, heartburn, and indigestion?

“Dark roast coffee is more effective than light roast coffee in reducing body weight,” but what is the effect of different roasts on heartburn and stomach upset? I discuss this in my video Does Low-Acid Coffee Cause Less Acid Reflux?.

We know that “coffee consumption sometimes is associated with symptoms of stomach discomfort,” so researchers put pH probes into people’s stomachs to measure the amount of stomach acid generated by different types of coffee. A gastrogram is a way to chart acid secretion in the stomach, as you can see at 0:30 in my video. You give people some baking soda so their stomach starts out alkaline, then measure the pH in the stomach to see how long it takes the body to restore the stomach to an acid bath—about 15 to 20 minutes. If you mix that same amount of baking soda with dark roast coffee, however, it takes longer, which means the dark roast coffee is suppressing stomach acid secretion because it takes longer to normalize the pH. If you give people more of a medium roast coffee, though, there is a dramatically different effect—an acceleration of stomach acid secretion, returning the stomach to acidic conditions three times faster than drinking dark roast coffee. Thus, dark roast coffee is less effective at stimulating stomach acid secretion than medium roast coffee. But you don’t know if that translates into symptoms, or clinical effects, until you put it to the test.

“The most commonly used coffee bean roasting process is referred to as convection or ‘flash’ roasting,” which usually takes less than ten minutes. “An alternative method is conduction roasting….[which] roasts the coffee beans at a lower temperature for a longer time, typically over 3 – 4 h,” and results in so-called low-acid coffee. “Anecdotal evidence from coffee-sensitive individuals has suggesting that this latter roasting method [for low-acid coffee] does not precipitate or aggravate heartburn.” However, when you look up the citation for this finding, the paper just cites data from the Puroast Coffee Co., makers of low-acid coffee. It should therefore come as no surprise that it was the same company that funded the study.

At one point, the Puroast Coffee website claimed, “The health benefits associated with drinking Puroast Low Acid coffee will become almost immediately obvious to those who suffer from acid reflux, heartburn, or indigestion,” with more than 90 percent of customers surveyed receiving symptom relief. So, the company decided to put its money where its mouth was. Before I get to the results, though, it’s important to realize that when they say “low acid,” they aren’t talking about stomach acid, but about roasting coffee beans so long that they destroy more of the chlorogenic acid within them. That’s the antioxidant, polyphenol, phytonutrient chlorogenic acid—that is, the “anti-diabetic, anti-carcinogenic, anti-inflammatory and anti-obesity” antioxidant.

That’s like an orange juice company going out of its way to destroy the vitamin C in its orange juice and then branding the juice as “low acid.” Vitamin C is ascorbic acid, so it would technically be true, but it would be bragging about destroying some of the nutrition, and that’s exactly what low-acid coffee makers are doing. But, if low-acid coffee causes less stomach discomfort, might it be worth it?

In the Puroast Coffee-funded study, 30 coffee-sensitive individuals completed a “randomized, double-blind, crossover study in which the symptoms of heartburn, regurgitation and dyspepsia [stomach upset] were assessed following coffee consumption” of Puroast brand low-acid coffee versus regular, conventionally roasted Starbucks coffee. To the study funder’s chagrin, no benefit whatsoever was found with the low-acid coffee, as you can see at 3:39 in my video. “Consumption of both coffees resulted in heartburn, regurgitation, and dyspepsia in most individuals.” So much for that ridiculous 90-percent-of-customers claim. “No significant differences in the frequency or severity of heartburn, regurgitation, or dyspepsia were demonstrated between the two coffees either in the fasting state or after the test meal.” The researchers couldn’t find any way to make the low-acid coffee look better.

They initially thought that a difference in coffee acidity might explain the company’s claims; however, when put to the test in a randomized controlled study, they found no difference in symptoms, suggesting that coffee acidity does not explain the sensitivity some people have. This, I think, further acts as a reminder that we should never believe claims made by anyone trying to sell us something.

Isn’t that amazing!? I love that Puroast’s own study did it in, but good for the company for allowing it to be published and not just quietly buried. Though, maybe it tried to make it disappear but the researchers held strong. Either way, this is how science is supposed to work, and I’m excited to bring it to you.

If you missed the previous video where I talked about that weight-loss finding, check out Which Coffee Is Healthier: Light vs. Dark Roast.