Kohl-what?!

The kohlrabi is one of the strangest vegetables we grow, and one of the least well-known. Resembling a cross between a turnip and a flying saucer, the vegetable was bred from a wild cabbage plant, similar to broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, collard greens, and many other similar vegetables, which are all in the “brassica” family. However, unlike all of these other vegetables, the kohlrabi vegetable that we eat is actually the swollen stem of the plant (known as the korm), not a root crop, a leaf crop, or a fruit crop. While you can eat the entire thing, it is only one of two vegetables we grow where the ‘good eating’ part is the stem (the second is fennel- the bulb of this plant is actually the petiole of the fennel leaf). The name comes from the German Kohl ("cabbage") plus Rübe  ("turnip"). You can eat them raw or cooked. This year we are only growing a purple variety (it’s our favorite!), but there are also greenish/white varieties as well.