Celeriac

With its craggy, irregular shape and deep folds and crevices, celeriac must be a contender for ugliest veg. In our weekly newsletter I once compared it to something between an elephant turd and Iain Duncan Smith’s forehead on a bad day – a potential Ratner moment made worse by IDS resigning as party leader between my writing and the box delivery, thus him being instantly being forgiven everything, including his towering wrinkled forehead. A few Tory-voting box customers cancelled that week.

Appearance isn’t everything and celeriac certainly has its share of inner beauty – under the skin lies a smoky, earthy flavour with some of the sweet freshness of its summer-loving cousin, fennel. This brings a host of culinary possibilities and a most welcome variation to the winter diet of a committed localvore. That strong and deep flavour is generated through slow and steady growth; seeded in February and planted in May, the roots do not reach a decent size until October and really need to be left in the ground into November. They can take a light frost but the prudent grower will have them harvested and in store well before Christmas; with care, good fortune and cold storage they keep well to April or May.