A Strange Vegetable, Indeed

Yesterday we talked about a medley of root vegetables that we've been roasting in the oven.  We just can't get enough of them.  But our carrots are coming to an end.  As discussed yesterday, I'm not a fan of turnip roots.  I like turnip greens, but the turnip roots I mainly give away and also feed to the cows.  However, I have found a relative to the turnip family that I like.

Kohlrabi!  I had never heard of this vegetable.  We certainly never grew up eating it.  The kohlrabi is NOT a root vegetable.  It is actually the swollen stem of a vegetable that grows above ground and is a brassica.  That means it is related to cabbage, broccoli, and cauliflower.  The name "kohlrabi" is German for 'cabbage turnip.'

I would have never thought to plant this in our garden.  We got it as one of the free seeds sent out by Baker Creek Heirloom seeds orders.  The seeds we got were Purple Kohlrabi.  The seed looked exactly like any other brassica seed.  When it grew... wow!  Look at this vegetable.  It looks like something cultivated on Mars or Saturn.

Mixed up in the purple kohlrabi seed envelope must have been just a regular old kohlrabi plant.  It looks just the same except for the color.

Here they are side by side in my hand to give you an idea of how big they are.  I've tried to let them grow bigger, but learned that's not a good idea.  They get tough and 'woody' if allowed to continue growing.

I tear off the leaves and give them to the cows and goats, but to be honest, kohlrabi leaves are edible for humans, too.  I use a sharp knife to peel the outer skin off and then I half them and begin slicing into thin cubes.  We'll roast those in a pan the exact same way that we did the carrots, beets, and cauliflower.  I have a good many of these that I'll be harvesting soon to make room for the spring garden.

Tricia's New Favorite Vegetable

Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds, in addition to having a seed catalog that could double as a coffee table book because the photos in it are so stunning, gives you a FREE packet of seeds with every order of five or ten packets (I forget which one).  The free seeds are mystery seeds and usually something you've never heard of and certainly not planted before.  A couple years ago, the free seed was Purple Kohlrabi.

I had never eaten kohlrabi before and certainly not a purple one, but I'm game for adventure, so I planted them.  They thrived.  I had no idea when they were ripe.  We had no idea how to prepare and cook this thing and didn't even know if we'd like it or not.  But it was FREE and I had a little space.  We ended up really liking this vegetable and it has become a staple in our fall garden.  They are also called a German turnip or a Turnip Cabbage.

We have been harvesting them and eating them and we have two remaining in the garden.  I need to pick them, along with the rest of the cabbage to make room for the rows of okra that I'll soon be planting.  Here is a nice purple kohlrabi that I just pulled.  The leaves are edible by humans like other brassica leaves, but I clip them and feed the cows and goats.  They seem to enjoy them.

It is a plump, healthy vegetable that just looks weird.

Once the leaves were snipped off, it fits perfectly in your hand and is exactly the size of those Nerf footballs that my brother and I would throw to each other in the yard when we were growing up.  However, I'm not throwing this thing anywhere but in the skillet.  

The way to prepare it is to cut the hard, woody part off that's near the base.  Then, I take a sharp knife and "skin" it until you are looking at a greenish-white bulbous thing.  Then, I slice it into disks and cube it by putting it into our vegetable chopper.  The cubes emerge as 1/2 inch by 1/2 inch sized squares.  These little cubes are seasoned and sautéed in a cast iron skillet.

I think kohlrabi has turned out to be my wife's favorite vegetable.  We would have likely not discovered this without Baker Creek Seeds (rareseeds.com) free seed promotion.  Although kohlrabi is indeed a top-shelf vegetable, I would say that mine is still fresh-picked snap beans (Italian Roma variety) cooked with new potatoes cut in half with plenty of butter.