I'm planning on making a cornbread stuffing (likely one of the NYTimes' recipes) for a potluck Thanksgiving. (e.g., stuffing will cooked outside of the turkey)
Unfortunately, all of the recipes require celery. I'm allergic to celery and would like to make a portion without it for myself. What can I substitute for celery that provides the same flavor and texture? Celeriac and celery root are a no-go, and jicama and lovage aren't available where I live.
You don't need to substitute anything, you can just leave it out. I've made both regular and cornbread stuffing with and without celery and I've never felt it was missing anything without celery, in fact I personally prefer it. Celery will release moisture as it cooks, I've found that I can compensate for it by adding a small amount more stock or water at the beginning.
If you want to replace the texture element then I'd suggest chopped peppers, sauteed or roasted to partially cook them as if you add them raw they won't always cook through in time. Other options are apple and onion, although they are stronger flavors that may interfere with the result you want.
In my experience, the stalks of swiss chard have a very similar mouthfeel to celery. I find the stalks more fibrous, but that shouldn't be a problem given you'll be cooking them.
Chard is a member of the beet family, whereas celery is a member of the parsley family, so it might not cause the same allergic reaction you experience with celery.
Fennel
By which I mean the vegetable - fennel bulb, not fennel seed. Substitute fennel for all the celery. It is a good fall vegetable and has a great crunch and flavor for stuffing. Fennel stalks actually look and crunch kind of like celery and so will not be weird interlopers.
https://foodprint.org/blog/how-to-use-fennel-stalks-and-fronds/
For a substitute for celery flavor, I'd suggest fenugreek seeds. They have a flavor that's a mix between celery and maple syrup. Fenugreek can be powerful so it may be good to do a trial run to figure out how much you'd need. The seeds are hard and need to be ground prior to use.
Fenugreek is a member of the Fabaceae family (beans). Apparently it has some cross-reactivity with peanut allergies and many people with peanut allergies are also allergic to fenugreek (https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2019.00673/full). I can't say whether or not fenugreek has cross-reactivity with celery allergies.
Fenugreek could be found in Indian groceries, often sold whole.
For me, the crunchy texture of the celery is an important component of stuffing. If I couldn't use celery, I would probably substitute it with something even crunchier, such as water chestnuts for a savory stuffing, or maybe coconut for a sweeter stuffing.
