Regular columnist Katie Herring of Cultivate talks about the timely topic of harvest season and the tempting autumnal treats that come with it.

WE’RE now slap bang in the middle of harvest season and we’ve never had so much local produce at each of our stops.

The VegVan and market stalls are simply heaving with local, organic produce and though the nights are getting darker our produce is a gleaming rainbow of autumnal goodies.

It’s this time of year that we start to see the root veg come in and last week we had our first sacks of gnarly celeriac delivered from Westmill farm.

I’m not sure I’d really seen a celeriac in it’s ‘just-dug’ form before I started working for Cultivate but it seems to be a firm favourite with our customers.

I had a tendency to shy away from root veg as they aren’t always the most glamorous of foods.

But I’ve learnt to never judge veg by it’s appearance alone and actually that some of the uglier looking food can really be the tastiest.

Celeriac is actually a relation of celery but instead of being cultivated for its stalk or leaves, with celeriac, is all about the root.

I assumed because of this it was only really edible roasted or boiled but in my quest to learn more about this veg I’ve discovered it can be eaten raw.

In fact the French have known this for a while and a popular dish over there is celeriac remoulade which is simply raw slices of celeriac with a bit of lemon juice, mayonnaise, dijon mustard and seasoning.

As a salad lover I’m looking forward to trying this with my next leafy lunch.

At some point though, I’m sure the autumn chill will leave me hankering for something a bit warmer and more comforting which is why I’m glad to have got my hands on a celeriac soup recipe from the chef of local supper club Smoke and Thyme.

With the main ingredients being celeriac and cream it definitely ticks the comfort food box. It’s definitely one worth sharing which is why I’ll be doing just that with our customers at our stops this week and at the Oxford Food and Drink festival this weekend.