Kohlrabi – All You Need to Know | Instacart Guide to Fresh Produce

Kohlrabi is a vegetable from the same family as Brussels sprouts, cabbage, broccoli, and kale. It tastes like a cross between broccoli stems and radish. When it’s cooked, its flavor grows sweeter. It grows in colors including white, pale green, and purple. Its skin is fairly tender and may or may not need to be peeled. Inside, the flesh is pale and cream-colored. When you take a bite, it will be crisp like cucumber and mild with a slight peppery bite, like radishes. Some say it’s similar in texture to jicama.

Kohlrabi has edible leaves that are packed with iron. They can be chopped and added to a salad or sautéed with garlic like you would with mustard, turnip, or beet greens. Its leafy stalks are also edible. But because the plant doesn’t have many leaves, you may want to add it to other greens.

Most styles of kohlrabi have a small bulb, less than 3in in diameter. Larger kohlrabi has 2 woody layers, both of which need to be removed to be edible. Choose the smaller version if you can find it since they don’t become as tough and are tastier than those that grow large. However, there’s one variety of kohlrabi called Gigante that’s both massive and very tender. Unlike other large styles of kohlrabi, it doesn’t have any tough, woody fibers. The Gigante can grow to over 10in wide and up to 10 lbs.

Where does kohlrabi come from?

Kohlrabi is believed to have first been cultivated in France in the 1300s. From France, its popularity spread to Germany and parts of Central Europe. Colonists spread it to India, where it’s still a popular vegetable, and then to parts of Asia. It first made its appearance in the U.S. in 1806, where it has remained a lesser-known and rarely eaten vegetable.

In German, kohlrabi means “cabbage turnip.” While it does look somewhat like a turnip, it grows above ground and tastes more like a cabbage.

How is kohlrabi grown?

Kohlrabi is a cool-weather crop that grows in full sun. It takes 45–60 days for it to reach maturity. It should be planted, so it’s ready to harvest before temperatures reach warmer than 75°F. In hotter regions, plan for a fall harvest.

What’s the nutritional value of kohlrabi?