Rooting-tooting! 17 ways with celeriac – from a comforting rosti to excellent ice-cream

It is intimidatingly knobbly, but do persevere. Surprisingly versatile, the vegetable can be used for everything from a cheddar soup to a great twist on coleslaw

Celeriac has many culinary virtues, but it is not handsome. In its untrimmed state, it looks like a celery plant someone brought before the Gardeners' Question Time panel to ask what went wrong. It actually is a sort of celery, as the name suggests, cultivated for its bulbous root rather than its apologetic stalks.

It looks pretty unprepossessing even when trimmed and wrapped for the supermarket, with gnarled roots, tendrils and a tough grey skin. A celeriac bulb can also seem like a lot of work - going at it with a peeler is thankless; better to slice away the outside with a sharp knife - but it doesn't have to be. In fact, you can bake it as is, whole, along with some herbs and oil, wrapped in a foil package. After two hours, just slice off the top, mash the insides with a little butter and eat. If that seems too unadventurous, here are 16 others ideas to try.