kohlrabi

[calimac]

I think it was vgqn who alerted me to the existence of a vegetable called kohlrabi, which she recommended. And when I noticed its name on the produce boards at one of my less-frequented supermarkets, I decided to pick some up.

Mind, it wasn't that easy to find, as the order in which the vegetables sit in the bins is not always identical to the order they're listed on the board, and if you don't know exactly what the thing you're looking for looks like, you're apt to pick up the wrong item. In this case, fennel.

Anyway, eventually I returned from the hunt with some kohlrabi: bulbs with numerous long stems turning into huge green leafy parts. One reason I buy fewer strange vegetables than I might is because I don't know what to do with them. (Yes, info is online, but it can be contradictory or even mischievous.) Sometimes while chopping veggies up for dinner, I realize how much unwritten practical skill I've accumulated on how to cut them up, and on which parts to keep and which to discard.

In the case of kohlrabi, apparently you discard all those stems and leaves, cut the peel off the bulb, and chop up the interior into what looks like, and it turns out tastes rather like too, chunks of peeled broccoli stem.

The first bulb I mixed into some stir-fry along with pieces of the broccoli it was masquerading as, to see if we could tell the difference. The rest got saved for tonight: I tossed it with my standard veggie-roasting mixture of olive oil, mashed garlic, and shredded asiago (lemon juice and pine nuts an optional post-roasting addition, left out this time), and put it in the oven along with the dish of what would become baked ravioli with marinara sauce (a favorite we don't often have, because few raviolis are good for baking). So, red and green for dinner: not bad.

Comments

[wild-irises.livejournal.com]

Produce board?

You don't just prowl the bins? There's a key?

In France, the supermarkets have self-checkout with pictures of the veggies so you can weigh them appropriately. But I have never seen what I imagine to be a "produce board."

[kalimac.livejournal.com]

I don't know what else to call it. But every supermarket I've ever shopped in has one. Fruit and the unrefrigerated veggies are in freestanding square bins, but the cold veggies are in long bins against the wall and the back of the next aisles. And above these bins are what I'm calling produce boards, with the names and prices of the veggies inserted in tabs. Only they're not always listed in the same order as the actual veggies below. And except for the few in commercial bags or wrapped in ties with names printed on, there's no way to tell from the bins themselves which item is which if you don't already know what they look like.

[wild-irises.livejournal.com]

Ahh, got it. I wouldn't use that term, but it makes perfect sense once explained. And I haven't got a better name for what you're talking about.

[tysolna]

I have imagined many things in my time, but viewing kohlrabi as a strange, exotic veg is not among them.

[kalimac.livejournal.com]

Never heard of it until recently.

Of course we have things in this country ... I have never met a visiting German (or other European, but the people I've seen go through this were mostly German) yet who could stand the taste of root beer. In Amurrica we loves us our root beer.

[tysolna]

The one time I drank root beer, I was reminded of toothpaste. But then that was twenty years ago, and I'd be willing to try again. ;)

[kalimac.livejournal.com]

If you haven't been Americanized in the interim, it'll still taste like toothpaste. That's one of the two comparisons I've heard: the other is bubble gum.

[(Anonymous)]

Been feeding on kålrabbi (Swedish word for this plant) throughout my whole childhood. Wonderfully resistant to frost. Had them in our vegetable garden. People in my family said Beowulf ate loads of them too. (I grew up where he is supposed to have come from - see Overing and Osborn´s "Landscape of Desire" if you don´t believe me). At least it made me at feel stronger... Happy you discovered this wonder-working vegetable too!

Martin Simonson

[irontongue.livejournal.com]

Kohlrabi: funniest-looking vegetable in the store. I mean, maybe not. One type of bitter melon (a vegetable despite the name) looks like a cucumber with warts. Still.

My favorite use of kohlrabi is in a slaw: grate raw carrots, watermelon radish (aka watermelon dikon), and kohlrabi into a bowl. Dress to taste. Oil & vinegar works well. Put in a bit of sugar if you want to offset the brassica-ness. Or an Asian-style dressing with sesame oil, rice vinegar, and soy sauce works well.

For other unusual vegetable, Alice Waters's "Chez Panisse Vegetables" cookbook has reliable explanations and excellent, straightforward recipes for many lovely vegetables.

[vgqn.livejournal.com]

Glad you enjoyed it! Terry G. just sent me a wonderful card with a kohlrabi decked out as a flying saucer, which is how they always looked to me. Flying saucers in my garden, cool!

The kohlrabi leaves are actually tender and tasty, for future reference. Cauliflower and broccoli leaves are edible too, although the larger ones are too tough. My preferred way of eating kohlrabi is to slice it into sticks and eat it raw, like carrot and celery sticks. It has a sweet, juicy, crunchiness that gets lost when it's cooked.

[kalimac.livejournal.com]

I have always terminated broccoli leaves with extreme prejudice. We does not like them, no precious.