What Is Kohlrabi? And The way to Use It for Cooking

At the checklist of much-maligned and regretfully misunderstood greens, the standard kohlrabi ranks top. A member of the brassica oleracea species of crops, kohlrabi continuously finally ends up being the very last thing used within the farmers marketplace haul or the dregs of a CSA supply. Its odd octopus-like form, ample leaves, and craggy external can confuse even essentially the most competent of chefs. Is it a large Brussels sprout? A miniature cabbage? Why is it on occasion pink and on occasion inexperienced? How do you even… lower it?

Like its siblings within the brassica circle of relatives — broccoli, cauliflower, kale, principally the entire fart-y stuff — kohlrabi wears many hats and can be utilized in an array of scrumptious meat-focused and vegetarian dishes which can be discovered in lots of various cuisines. It would possibly not glance like essentially the most delectable or visually shocking vegetable, however kohlrabi is nutrient-dense, subtly tasty, and value including to stews, curries, soups, pickles, and salads. Oh, and you’ll be able to even devour it by itself — take a smaller springtime kohlrabi, peel again the leaves, and simply chew it like an apple.

However first, uh, what’s kohlrabi?

Kohlrabi is a vegetable whose commonplace utilization identify comes from the German mashup of kohl (cabbage) and rabi (turnip). Neither a cabbage nor a turnip however vaguely harking back to each greens, kohlrabi is grown every year throughout a number of continents, together with Europe and South Asia. “Broccoli was once decided on for in reality giant flower buds, turnips had been decided on for large roots, kohlrabi was once decided on for a thick bulbous stem,” says Alessandro Ascherio, farm box supervisor on the Mort Brooks Memorial Farm in Philadelphia. “[The stem] is the phase you’re consuming.” Ascherio likens the stem of the kohlrabi to the internal a part of the stem of broccoli. “​​In the event you’ve ever met people who find themselves in reality into consuming the interior of the broccoli stem — there’s this great white crunchy phase — it’s roughly like that,” he says. “It’s now not sour. It’s gentle and candy.”

As a result of kohlrabi is a hardy vegetable, it grows in spring and fall, and will even be harvested in winters within the Northeastern a part of The united states. “Kohlrabi sits proper on most sensible of the bottom. As a farmer, a minimum of the place I’ve been rising, it’s one of the crucial causes I find it irresistible such a lot. I will break out with out a quilt,” Ascherio says. In spring and summer time, kohlrabi has a gentle and sweeter style, and the vegetable will usually be smaller in dimension — extra like a baseball than a softball. In fall, it’s a lot better, and can also be woody if grown too giant, which is why it ceaselessly results in stews and curries, the place it may be damaged down gently. However as Ascherio says, “even throughout the iciness it excels as a uncooked vegetable.” Have some kohlrabi and don’t know what to do with it somewhat but? It may be saved for a couple of weeks or extra within the refrigerator — simply take a look at periodically to look that it’s now not getting too cushy. That’s most often an indication that it’s at the means out.

What does kohlrabi style like?

Like many individuals of the brassica circle of relatives, kohlrabi is subtly candy and vaguely peppery whilst you devour it uncooked. Its texture is comparable to a jicama or a broccoli middle, and the faster-maturing spring sorts can also be juicy like apples, even though hardly as candy. Heartier sorts that develop within the fall, after they develop larger, will have much less sweetness and extra construction (on occasion flavorless and too fibrous, in the event you get the unsuitable one), however they’ll upload peppery, mustard-y flavors to curries and braises, and can melt smartly in cooked dishes. The leaves on a kohlrabi also are fit to be eaten, after they’re in just right form. “They give the impression of being nearly like small collards or dinosaur kale,” Ascherio says. Upload the ones to any soup or stew, or stir-fry them with garlic by means of themselves for an aspect of hearty vegetables to be served along any roughly delicacies.

Sophia Pappas

How do you get ready kohlrabi for cooking?

Kohlrabi, regardless of its alien look, isn’t as difficult as, say, a pomegranate, to wreck down for cooking. Step one in disassembling this on occasion unwieldy vegetable is reducing off the leaves and stems that time out performatively in all instructions from the bulb. (Save the leaves for cooking if they give the impression of being wholesome and snappy, however discard if they appear wilted and raveled.) Slice the bottom off the ground of the bulb as you may an eggplant or cabbage, then peel the outer layer with a vegetable peeler till the white inner is uncovered. At this level, it’s conceivable to chop your kohlrabi whatsoever in step with the dish you’re making. Fit sticks paintings smartly for contemporary salads, chunks for a stew, and strips in the event you’re making plans to pickle it with different greens (or on my own, for that topic).

How is kohlrabi used within the kitchen?

“Kohlrabi is in truth found in Indian delicacies in nearly all other areas — South, North, West, and East,” says Lopamudra Mishra, prepare dinner and author of the meals weblog Away within the Kitchen, the place Mishra options recipes for Indian house cooking. “In the event you move to India, you may to find it’s in maximum regional cuisines nevertheless it’s by no means a celebrity dish. No one will say, ‘Oh, I like kohlrabi’ — except for if anyone is from Kashmir.” In Kashmir, kohlrabi is referred to as monji haakh — the monji refers back to the bulbous a part of the vegetable and the haakh the leaves — and it’s continuously cooked with an easy mixture of spices and components. “[Kashmiris] get ready this very elementary stew, which hardly ever has any spices,” Mishra says. “It has asafetida, it has a bit little bit of Kashmiri chili. Every so often they’ll use a bit little bit of ver masala which is like Kashmiri garam masala. It’s not obligatory. And that’s it.” The leaves aren’t chopped — they’re wiped clean and cooked complete with a large number of water, Mishra explains. “It turns into a stew till the kohlrabi is cushy and soft however nonetheless holds its form.”

Kohlrabi may also be cooked German taste as an aspect dish braised in a creamy bechamel sauce. It may be eaten like you may an aspect of braised cabbage along meatballs or schnitzel. There also are arrangements in Vietnamese delicacies, like stir-fries and herby salads with pickled daikon and carrots. Kohlrabi displays up in Israeli delicacies, roasted. As it’s the sort of hearty vegetable that may develop in a variety of climates and seasons, and since its taste is delicate and approachable, there’s a recipe for it in additional cultures than now not. Plus, when the ramps and lacinato kale are all bought out on the marketplace, this unsightly little vegetable is sort of all the time there for the taking.

Just like cabbage, carrots, and hearty iciness greens, kohlrabi additionally pickles smartly, each in a vinegar preparation with spices and in an oil preparation, discovered in lots of Indian cuisines. “You blank the kohlrabi, lower them into cubes, then rub the spices onto the kohlrabi items,” Mishra says of constructing a kohlrabi-focused pickle. “Some other folks additionally love to rather prepare dinner the kohlrabi however you don’t in truth want to. You simply upload the oil. If you’re the use of mustard oil, you warmth the oil, then cool it down, after which upload it. Upload salt. All of them will act as fermenting brokers.”

For Mishra, kohlrabi is a smart selection for a vegetable to pickle and maintain. “I in reality like kohlrabi within the pickle shape so much as it has a bit little bit of sweetness. It’s at the sweeter aspect,” Mishra says. “You devour it with rice and dal. It’s in reality to hand as a condiment.”

Ascherio will get fascinated about consuming kohlrabi uncooked in salads and slaws, or reducing the vegetable into strips and consuming it slathered with peanut butter. And naturally treating it like an apple is all the time an choice. No matter you do, even though, don’t depend it out: “I’d say in my enjoy it stays underappreciated,” Ascherio says. “There are a couple of CSA individuals who’re jazzed about no matter you give them and so they’re open to getting ready it whatsoever, however I’ve now not see a lot pleasure — a lot to my chagrin.”

In the event you’d like to check out cooking with kohlrabi, listed below are some recipes to get you began:

Lopamudra Mishra’s Monji Haakh, or kohlrabi cooked in Kashmiri Taste

Lopamudra Mishra’s Kohlrabi Pickle

Asaf Doktor’s Charcoal-Baked Kohlrabi

Romy Gill’s Kohlrabi Aloo Sabzi

Melissa Clark’s Caramelized Kohlrabi Soup

Vidya Narayan’s Noolkol Poriyal

Jennifer McGavin’s Kohlrabi in Creamy Sauce

Sophia Pappas is a Pittsburgh-based illustrator.