Kohlrabi? More like COOL-rabi!
24 FEB 2022
Kohlrabi? More like COOL-rabi!
It’s also called German turnip and is quite popular in parts of Europe. This vegetable comes from the cabbage family and its taste is very similar to broccoli stem. It can be eaten raw, cooked in various ways and you can also eat the leaves too. The taste is like kale or collards with a milder slightly sweeter flavour.
This root vegetable may seem intimidating, but kohlrabi is a versatile veggie available throughout the winter and is a lot like its relatives cabbage, cauliflower, and broccoli, which tend to get sweeter with cooler temperatures.
Kohlrabi is a good source of vitamin C and vitamin B6. It’s usually grown by small-scale farmers because it can be planted alongside tubers that have the same water and soil needs, such as beets. You'll find green, white, and purple kohlrabi at farmers' markets.
Here is a quick Carrot and Kohlrabi Slaw recipe, that can hold up to 30 days in the fridge. Enjoy!
Ingredients:
2 bulbs kohlrabi
4 carrots
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
1 tablespoon whole-grain mustard
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- Trim and peel kohlrabi and carrots. You can use a vegetable peeler on carrots, but to properly peel kohlrabi, you'll have better luck with a paring knife. Trim tops and bottoms of kohlrabi and set flat bottoms on a cutting surface, then use a sharp paring knife to cut down from top to bottom, removing thick, tough peel. With this method you'll easily be able to see where tender white-ish inside ends and the green or purple peel begins, working around vegetable until all the peel is removed. Set peeled vegetables aside.
- In a salad bowl or large mixing bowl, whisk together oil, vinegar, mustard, and salt until well blended.
- Using large holes on a standing box grater or a mandolin set up for fine julienne, grate kohlrabi and carrots into salad bowl.
- Toss everything together until kohlrabi and carrot are evenly coated with dressing. Taste and add more salt or pepper as you like.
Tips:
- Be sure to cut off all the tough outer peel of the kohlrabi—it's better to lose a bit of the tender inside that bite into the tough peel later.
- If you'd like to make the salad ahead of time, don't grate the vegetables directly into the dressing, but into a fine mesh sieve. Let them drain for a few minutes, pressing down on them a bit, then add to the dressing and toss—this will help keep the dressing from getting watery as it sits. When it comes time to serve any leftovers that sit chilled overnight, use a slotted spoon to lift the salad out of the bowl to leave some of the liquid behind.