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Henriette Kress · 04-10-2007, 08:13 AM posted to rec.gardens.edible

wrote:

Jim Kingdon wrote:
I bought a celeriac bulb the other day, it had the celery stick and
leaves still attached. They are very very green and wilted, but I
thought I might be able to put them in stews and soups. I've frozen
them. But then I wondered, are they safe? Could they be poisonious.

No worries about poisonous, and I don't think there are big issues
with flavor/bitterness/etc. At least one of my seed catalogs lists
their celeriac as "celery/celeriac".

Thank you for your answer, I just wondered because these were VERY
green and I was thinking of clorafil in potatoes and the nearness in
species that celery/celeriac is to rubbarb. I am a very frugal woman
and try not to waste anything.

Chlorophyll is the green part of all green plants.

The toxic part of potatoes is called solanine, and found in a lot of Solanaceous
plants (for instance green potatoes).

Rhubarb contains lots of oxalic acid. Rhubarb is not related to celery - unless
you count the fact that they're both flowering plants. Celery wouldn't have a
clue what oxalic acid looks like, let alone produce some itself ...

The dark leaf you get off a celeriac bulb can be quite a bit stronger in taste
than the pampered sun-shaded light green celery stalks, but it's the same plant
- just a different growth form.
Like you get round and oblong tomatoes - same plant, different cultivars.

Use less of your dark green leaf, unless you want the whole dish to taste of
nothing but celery.

Henriette

--
Henriette Kress, AHG Helsinki, Finland
Henriette's herbal homepage: http://www.henriettesherbal.com