So you got this interesting vegetable at the Farmers Market or in your CSA box… now what do you do with it?!
Kohlrabi, German for ‘cabbage turnip’, is a member of the cabbage family, a root vegetable that is a ‘cousin’ to cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower. The texture is similar to that of a broccoli stem or cabbage heart, but the taste is a bit sweeter. The leaves can be eaten as well, fresh or sautéed. These babies are chock full of vitamin C, even more so than oranges!
Kohlrabi is crisp and can be eaten fresh raw or in a salad. There are also hundreds of recipes available for roasting, mashing, frying and otherwise serving it (so we think you need to give it a try!) You can find kohlrabi here in the Midwest U.S. in purple or white. The purple color is superficial – both look similar inside once you peel your kohlrabi of its exterior and woody parts, and cut inside it.
If you’d like to start out with a fairly easy and delicious way of preparing kohlrabi, try this: Peel and cut it into julienne strips (long, medium-width strips – like a small french fry), steam or microwave the strips in a couple of tablespoons of water until tender when tested with a fork. They’re a thick, tuberous vegetable, so they take awhile to cook. Once tender, sauté in butter with a little salt and pepper until lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Yum!