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Kohlrabi: A Great-tasting, Great-looking Green

Plants & Gardens News Volume 13, Number 1 | Spring 1998
by Renee Shepherd

When I was a little girl in suburban Cleveland, visits to my grandmother’s wonderful garden were a highlight of summer. After I surveyed all the plants, I always helped my grandmother pull up a bunch of plump kohlrabi for a snack. While I watched with anticipation, she would carefully peel the round tubers, then slice them up in thick, juicy rounds that kept me munching all afternoon.

Now that I’m a grown-up gardener, I continue the tradition and grow both violet and green varieties of kohlrabi. I plant them in a pretty mosaic pattern and then stand back to enjoy visitors’ reactions to the eye-catching shape of this unusual vegetable. Kohlrabi plants form tubers, actually edible swollen stems, just above the ground that are shaped like tennis balls. They are green or deep violet-purple depending on the variety, with ruffled foliage that looks like broccoli leaves growing out of the tuber’s tops and sides. Many friends gaze in amazement when they first see my kohlrabi bed. Neighborhood kids call it my “flying saucer” vegetable. But to anyone with a Slavic or Asian background, kohlrabi is a familiar sight—mention the name and they’ll likely lick their lips because they know how tasty these eccentric-looking plants are.
kohlrabi

Kohlrabi’s name is a combination of the German words for cabbage and turnip, but to me, the flavor of the juicy, crisp flesh is sweeter than that of its cousins—a cross between apples and very mild baby turnips. Elizabeth Schneider, in her classic Uncommon Fruits and Vegetables, describes kohlrabi as tasting “like the freshest, crunchiest broccoli stems, touched with a hint of radish and cucumber.”

The origin of kohlrabi is a matter of debate—some plant historians date it back to the Roman Empire; others claim it was developed from the mallow cabbage in the 16th century. Although its antecedents are obscure, kohlrabi today is a staple throughout Asia and Eastern Europe. In the USA, it is harder to find, but becoming increasingly popular.

Kohlrabi is a reliable ornamental edible to grow in cool spring weather and again in fall when summer heat tapers off. The tasty tubers and leaves are good sources of vitamins C and A, calcium, potassium, and fiber. And weight-watchers will be happy to hear they are low in calories, about 40 per cup. Like all brassicas, kohlrabi is claimed to be a potent anti-cancer vegetable. The biennial plants are very quick to mature, ready to harvest in just 60 to 70 days. Newer hybrids offer much more vigorous plants that grow rapidly and produce big, crunchy tubers without the pithy or stringy qualities that plagued older kohlrabi cultivars.

Growing kohlrabi is easy and rewarding. It needs a rich soil, preferring a neutral to slightly acid pH. Prepare your garden bed for planting with lots of well-aged manure or compost. While you can grow a fine crop of kohlrabi by direct sowing, I prefer to set out seedlings started indoors from seeds no more than five to six weeks before the last expected frost date. I find that healthy, sturdy transplants are better able to survive slugs or snails and unexpected inclement weather.

To start kohlrabi indoors, sow seeds about 1/2 inch deep and an inch apart in a container of seed-starting mix. Keep evenly moist and provide good light. Germination takes 10 to 14 days and seedlings thrive in 65- to 75-degree conditions. When well established with at least one strong set of true leaves, thin seedlings to three or four inches apart or transplant them to deeper containers. Keep evenly watered and feed every 10 days with half-strength liquid fertilizer. As soon as outside temperatures reach 50 degrees, acclimate seedlings to outdoor conditions for four or five days protected from direct sun, then plant in the garden about six to eight inches apart and water well. Don’t wait too long before transplanting your young seedlings—stressed or root-bound kohlrabi will not produce good tubers. In the garden, keep plants well weeded and evenly watered. Feed every three weeks or so with a balanced liquid fertilizer or fish emulsion solution. Plant a second crop of kohlrabi once summer heat diminishes. You can start the seeds in a container outdoors in light shade, then plant seedlings in the garden, shading them until established.

Kohlrabi is not prone to pest problems, but to totally avoid predators, I usually cover the seedlings after transplanting with floating light- and water-permeable row covers. I remove them when plants are established and beginning to form baby tubers. Limit disease potential by planting kohlrabi and all its brassica relatives in three-year rotations.

I begin to harvest kohlrabi when they reach two to three inches in diameter. Cut the root an inch below the tubers. Trim the leaves to cook separately and store the tubers in the crisper of your refrigerator. They will keep for at least three weeks. I still enjoy kohlrabi sliced up raw best of all, but the leaves and tubers are great cooked, too. For greens, cut and discard the leaf stems, then drop the leaves into boiling water. Cook until just tender. Then heat olive oil in a skillet. Add garlic and sauté briefly. Toss in the kohlrabi leaves and cook a few minutes more.

Kohlrabi’s flesh cooks up to tender sweetness. Remove the outer skins and slice to sauté slowly in butter, or steam the unpeeled tubers whole, then peel and cut up. Traditionally, cooked kohlrabi is served in a rich, delectable cream sauce with nutmeg. Or stir-fry kohlrabi with carrots and scallions. Unpeeled, trimmed kohlrabi tubers can also be baked in the oven; pair with herbs or aromatics.

In planting kohlrabi, look for the newer hybrids rather than the older ‘Purple Vienna’ and ‘Green Vienna’, which tend to get pithy and tough with size. Choice green-skinned varieties include ‘Grand Duke’, ‘Eder’, ‘Komet’, ‘Express’, and the heirloom ‘Superschmelz’. Violet varieties I like to grow include ‘Kolibri’ and ‘Rapid’. The violet varieties have dark skins and leaves, and pale flesh. If you garden with a child, it’s fun to plant a bed of green kohlrabi interplanted with purple in the shape of their first name. Or, simply alternate rows of green and purple plants.

However you choose to plant this curious vegetable, it’s sure to be an eye-catcher in your garden and a hit at your dinner table. You can’t get a better combination than that!

Kohlrabi Sauté

* 4 medium kohlrabi tubers
* 1 tablespoon butter
* 1 tablespoon olive oil
* 1 clove garlic, minced
* 1 medium onion, chopped
* 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
* 2 tablespoons chopped
* fresh parsley
* salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
* 2 tablespoons fresh low-fat
* sour cream

Peel the outer skin from the kohlrabi, then coarsely grate tubers. In a skillet heat butter and olive oil. Add garlic, onion, and kohlrabi and sauté, stirring until kohlrabi is tender-crisp. Stir in lemon juice and parsley. Season with salt and fresh pepper to taste. Add sour cream, and serve hot.

Serves 4 to 6.

A pioneer in the plant world, Renee Shepherd is the founder and former owner of Shepherd’s Seeds, which she sold in 1996. Two years ago she started Renee’s Garden, a company that specializes in gourmet vegetable, country garden, and herb seeds “by gardeners for gardeners.” She’s also a popular garden industry speaker, the co-author of two books, Recipes from a Kitchen Garden and More Recipes from a Kitchen Garden, and an educator who has taught environmental studies and sustainable agriculture at the University of California at Santa Cruz. Renee’s Garden seeds can be purchased on-line at www.garden.com, or call toll-free, (888) 881-7228, for the retailer nearest you.