Kohlrabi

Cooking takes time, so when I'm busy, I usually end up trying to eat my CSA share in the form of raw snack food. Last night, I spent about 10 minutes washing, peeling, and chopping up carrots, cucumbers, and kohlrabi. I sliced them matchstick style for easy snacking. I normally leave the skin on cucumbers, but these were not so pretty cucumbers, so I just peeled them. The carrots were still very young, so I left the skin on and made sure to scrub them very thoroughly. The kohlrabi was very easy to prepare: snap off all the leaves and stems, wash, and peel like a turnip or other root vegetable.

Lunch was leftover bbq chicken from Virgil's and a hefty slice of chocolate chess pie (!), so the vegetable sticks were a welcome way to stave off the impending food coma.

The kohlrabi ended up being surprisingly good, considering my strong aversion to broccoli. I offered a stick to my coworker who bravely took a nibble. Her face was a study in polite aversion, so I don't think she's a huge kohlrabi fan. However, she noted that it tasted like brussel sprouts. I had zoomed in on the texture, which is a cross between radishes and jicama, so I didn't make the brussel sprout connection until she pointed it out to me. It makes sense though, since kohlrabi falls in the Brassica oleracea family, which includes brussel sprouts, cabbage, kale, broccoli, and cauliflower.

I think my issue with broccoli lies mainly with the texture of the vegetable, but fortunately, kohlrabi is much crunchier and crisper than broccoli. I happily snacked my way through the entire bulb. I don't know if I'll bring it back to the office again though. As the kohlrabi sticks warmed up to room temperature, I noticed a distinct boiled-cabbage smell permeating the air around my desk. I suppose that's why the family is falled B. oleracea.

While I was munching on my veggie sticks, I pondered other ways to eat kohlrabi. If I had more than one bulb, I doubt I could eat them all raw. Cruciferous vegetables give me a headache if I eat too much of them raw. Since I am passionately in love with the taste of roasted brussel sprouts though, I'm thinking roasted kohlrabi might be a lovely way to handle extra kohlrabi bulbs. CSA Share #7, bring it on. I am prepared!!!

This is kind of random, but I bet kohlrabi would make a fantastic 무김치 (radish kimchi). It has the right texture and it tastes kind of like daikon radish. I'm so clever! Maybe that would be a fun project to try when I have a bit more time.

----edit----
Never mind. A lot of other people are also clever. I googled "kohlrabi kimchi" and it's definitely been done by adventurous cooks elsewhere. Oh well! At least I'm starting to get creative :)