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Kohlrabi

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The typical green tuber is often nibbled raw or cooked for delicious vegetable dishes. For a more intense taste, however, it is not the green, but the purple kohlrabi that should be processed – this tastes much stronger. Here you can find out what to look out for when buying vegetables.

Purple kohlrabi: intense in taste

If you love the taste of kohlrabi, you should use the more colorful version more often: purple kohlrabi is much more flavorful than green kohlrabi. This tuber is particularly suitable for spring dishes.

When buying, you should make sure that the tubers are intact and look smooth. The leaves are also an indicator of freshness: if they are green and crisp, you can assume that the kohlrabi is also fresh. The smaller the tuber, the more delicate it tastes – large kohlrabi, on the other hand, can often taste woody.

Kohlrabi is so healthy

Whether green or violet – the kohlrabi is packed with valuable ingredients such as vitamin C. Just 100 grams of the tuber cover half of the recommended daily requirement. The mustard oils contained in the vegetables have a positive effect on the immune system and support the function of the gastrointestinal tract.

But not only the kohlrabi itself scores with its great ingredients: there is goodness in the leaves too! It contains almost double or triple the number of vitamins and minerals. Washed and finely chopped, the kohlrabi leaves can be sprinkled over salads or added to vegetable soups.

Kohlrabi tastes delicious, is healthy and grows on our doorstep. We will show you if and how you should peel kohlrabi and how you can reuse the leaves.

Raw or cooked, kohlrabi is popular

Kohlrabi is very popular with us because of its mild taste. It tastes not only raw, but also cooked as a vegetable side dish. It is also very healthy: the tuber contains many nutrients such as calcium, magnesium, selenium and some vitamins.

You can buy kohlrabi all year round. But you can only get it particularly fresh and from the region in summer. In the winter time it is imported from the Mediterranean countries.

To peel or not to peel kohlrabi?

When buying kohlrabi, you should pay particular attention to the long green leaves. If the leaves are crisp and green, then the kohlrabi is fresh. Then it also tastes particularly mild raw. Many also tend to reach for the largest tubers. But be careful: the large tubers often have many woody parts. Then he should be peeled.

The small kohlrabi tuber usually has a more delicate skin and fewer woody parts. Here it is sufficient to cut off the roots and the leaves. Otherwise, you don’t need to peel the kohlrabi. But wash it off thoroughly with water. If you want to eat the kohlrabi unpeeled, it is best to buy it in organic quality.

Peeling kohlrabi made easy

However, it is better to peel a large kohlrabi:
To do this, remove the roots and leaves with a sharp knife.
Now peel either from the root base in a circle, or from the root base towards the leaves. Be sure to cut off woody and fibrous areas.
Then you can cook the kohlrabi.
Our tip: Use a vegetable peeler, then you only cut off what is absolutely necessary. However, you should completely remove all woody areas.

Kohlrabi leaves: too bad for the garbage

The long green kohlrabi leaves are often removed in the supermarket or end up in the garbage. That’s a pity, because the fresh and crunchy leaves contain other important vitamins. Here’s how you can put the sheets to good use:
When the leaves are young, green and crisp, you can chop them up and use them as a salad topping.
You can refine cooked kohlrabi with the finely chopped leaves.
Add kohlrabi leaves to your smoothie for an extra green kick!
Or you can leave the leaves whole and use them as a substitute for aluminum foil at the next barbecue. The large leaves in particular are ideal for wrapping grilled cheese and grilled vegetables.

Kohlrabi is healthy and delicious. Here you can find out which nutrients kohlrabi contains and what you have to consider when preparing it so that it retains its vitamins.

Kohlrabi, also known as turnip, originally comes from the Mediterranean region. Today, however, kohlrabi is considered a typical German vegetable. No wonder, because it is grown in many white or blue varieties in this country. In spring you get fresh kohlrabi from the early harvest. It can only be stored for a few weeks, in contrast to the autumn kohlrabi. You can store the early kohlrabi without the leaves in the crisper of the refrigerator for about a week.

Kohlrabi: many healthy ingredients

Like many vegetables, kohlrabi is mostly water. Its calorie content of 24 kilocalories per 100 grams is correspondingly low. The calories come mainly from carbohydrates (about six percent) and proteins (about two percent). In addition, however, kohlrabi contains many vitamins and minerals, namely:
Vitamin C (62)
Vitamin A (carotene, 0.02)
Vitamin B1 (0.05)
Vitamin B2 (0.02)
niacin
Vitamin B6 (0.15)
and the minerals:
Potassium (380)
Calcium (24)
Phosphorus (46)
Magnesium (19)
iron
Selenium (just under a microgram)
The figures given are in milligrams per 100 grams. All nutritional values ​​are from the database

The nutrient content in the green leaves of the kohlrabi tubers is particularly high, for example the leaves contain more vitamin A than the tubers. So it’s worth adding the leaves to a salad or smoothie.

Kohlrabi: It depends on the preparation!

The B vitamins and vitamin C contained in kohlrabi are water soluble. This means that some of them are lost during cooking. Kohlrabi is healthier if you eat it raw and with the leaves. You should also peel as little of the kohlrabi as possible

Kohlrabi is a healthy and delicious summer vegetable. You can freeze it so that you still have some of it in winter.

Depending on the variety, the kohlrabi harvest season begins in May and ends in autumn. If your harvest is very good, you can freeze kohlrabi and enjoy the vegetables even in winter. But even if you have leftover kohlrabi from a meal, you can freeze it to avoid wasting food.

Blanch and freeze the kohlrabi

If you want to preserve your kohlrabi harvest, then proceed as follows:
Peel and wash the fresh kohlrabi.
Cut it into strips or cubes. Be sure to remove woody spots.
Bring salted water to a boil in a saucepan.
Have ice water ready to chill.
Add the kohlrabi and blanch in boiling salted water for two minutes.
Then shock the kohlrabi in ice water.
Let it cool completely and drain well through a sieve.
Then freeze it in suitable glass or bioplastic freezer containers.
Defrosting: You can add the kohlrabi pieces to soups, stews and vegetable pans while they are still frozen. It is important not to cook it for too long, otherwise it will become too soft.

Alternative: Freeze raw kohlrabi

Some home gardeners and chefs skip a step and freeze their kohlrabi without blanching it first. To do this, peel the raw kohlrabi and cut it into sticks or cubes and place it in freezer-safe containers. After thawing, however, this method can change the appearance and consistency of the kohlrabi.

You don’t have to throw away the kohlrabi leaves. We will show you how you can use the leaves sensibly and even conjure up delicious dishes from them.

Many remove the kohlrabi leaves in the supermarket and dispose of them. We recommend that you buy kohlrabi with leaves, for example at the regional weekly market. The leaves are rich in magnesium and vitamin C. They can also be used for delicious dishes.

If you keep small animals like guinea pigs or rabbits, you can also feed them kohlrabi leaves.

Kohlrabi leaves as a substitute for aluminum foil

When grilling, you should avoid aluminum trays and aluminum foil – for the sake of your health and the environment. Simply wrap your grilled food in kohlrabi leaves and fix them with wooden skewers. You can fill the grill packs according to your taste. Various types of vegetables, such as tomatoes or zucchini, olives or tofu are particularly tasty. Depending on your taste, a marinade made of oil, pepper and salt goes well with it.

You can simply eat the kohlrabi leaves afterwards. They are flavorful and ensure that you grill your vegetables without any waste.

Spinach substitute made from kohlrabi leaves

You can conjure up a tasty, spicy substitute for spinach from kohlrabi leaves. All you need is:

Leaves of 3 – 5 kohlrabi bulbs
1 onion
1-2 cloves of garlic
Salt pepper
3 tbsp oil
And this is how it works:

Wash the kohlrabi leaves and remove the stalks with a knife.
Cut the kohlrabi leaves into strips.
Peel the garlic cloves and the onion. Cut the onion and mince the garlic.
Heat the oil in a pan. Briefly sauté the diced onions and the chopped garlic in it.
Add the chopped kohlrabi leaves to the pan.
Let it simmer for 25 to 30 minutes over low heat. Add some water if needed.

Kohlrabi is easy to cook and can be processed into a variety of dishes. It’s cheap, tasty and available regionally. We will show you what you should consider when preparing.

Before you cook kohlrabi, it is important to choose the right tuber: do not reach for the largest specimen, often they have woody parts. You can recognize good kohlrabi by its crack-free skin and fresh, crisp leaves. By the way: You don’t necessarily have to peel young kohlrabi, it’s enough to cut off the base of the leaves and the root.

Less well known than the white-greenish kohlrabi is the bluish-purple kohlrabi, which is rarely found in conventional agriculture. It should be finer and spicier than the white one, but you can cook the purple kohlrabi just like the green one.

Cooking kohlrabi – instructions

With its sweet and nutty taste, kohlrabi offers a great variety in the vegetable kitchen. Cooked kohlrabi is particularly popular as a side dish.

You can cook kohlrabi whole and only then remove the peel if necessary – this way, many of the valuable ingredients such as potassium, selenium and vitamin C are retained.

Cooking kohlrabi whole:

Clean the kohlrabi and remove the roots and leaves.
Bring water to a boil in a saucepan and add some salt.
Put the kohlrabi in the pot and let it cook. The cooking time for a whole tuber is 20 to 30 minutes, depending on its size.
Cooking kohlrabi in pieces:

Remove the roots and leaves of the kohlrabi.
peel him.
Cut the kohlrabi into strips or pieces and remove woody parts.
Boil the kohlrabi in lightly salted water for about 15 minutes.

Practical tips:

Cooked kohlrabi can be seasoned particularly well with parsley or nutmeg and served with a little butter or a light sauce.
If the kohlrabi leaves are fresh and untreated, you can process them like other leafy greens or at least use them as a garnish. The leaves even have about twice as much phosphorus and vitamin C as the kohlrabi bulb.
You can combine kohlrabi particularly well with other vegetables, it goes particularly well with potatoes and carrots.

How else can you prepare kohlrabi?

The kohlrabi has many more uses in the kitchen:

The simplest version: You can cut the kohlrabi into manageable pieces or slices and eat them raw – with a delicious dip, the perfect snack for warm days.
Raw kohlrabi is also easy to grate into a leaf salad.
You can also add kohlrabi and young kohlrabi leaves to your green smoothie.
As a vegetarian alternative to the schnitzel, you can bread the kohlrabi slices after a short cooking time and fry them in a pan. The kohlrabi schnitzel tastes particularly good with a little lemon juice.
Of course you can also prepare kohlrabi in the oven as a casserole – together with other vegetables a good way to use up leftovers.
The stuffed kohlrabi, which you can also gratinate, is particularly sophisticated. Vegetables, bulgur or rice can be used as a filling.
In the cold season you can also use kohlrabi for vegetable soups and stews.
Kohlrabi can be used in many ways and brings variety to every dish. In addition, kohlrabi is healthy and available from May to October from regional cultivation. Pay attention to organic quality, because in this way you support ecological agriculture and avoid chemical-synthetic pesticides in your vegetables.

Eat kohlrabi raw – it tastes good and is healthy. Some even prefer raw kohlrabi to cooked. We have summarized the most important information for you.

You can safely eat kohlrabi raw. Kohlrabi is actually particularly healthy raw. Although the green-whitish tuber is available all year round, it is actually only in season from May to October. Only then will you get them from regional cultivation. The remaining months the vegetables come from Italy or Spain.

Due to the high amounts of CO2 emissions that arise during long transport routes, it makes sense from an ecological perspective to buy kohlrabi as seasonally and regionally as possible. The rest of the year you can use other vegetables. You can find out when which fruit and vegetables are in season in our seasonal calendar.

Eating kohlrabi raw: these are the advantages

Kohlrabi tastes mild and slightly sweet and sometimes has a nutty aroma. The tuber contains a lot of water and is rich in vitamins and minerals. Kohlrabi is particularly rich in vitamin C, potassium, calcium, phosphorus and magnesium.

You can benefit from all these nutrients especially if you eat kohlrabi raw. Some micronutrients are destroyed during cooking because they are heat-sensitive or water-soluble. That’s why other vegetables are even healthier if you eat them raw. You can find out more about this here: You should rather eat these 6 types of vegetables raw

Kohlrabi has very few calories: the tuber contains about 27 kilocalories per 100 grams. It also consists of about six percent carbohydrates. Protein and fat are only present in negligibly small amounts.

By the way: did you know that you can use the kohlrabi leaves? Read more about this in our article Kohlrabi leaves: The leaves are so tasty to use The leaves contain a lot of vitamin C – even more than the tuber itself.

Eating kohlrabi raw: tips for preparation

You can always eat kohlrabi raw. If the leaves are intensely green and not wilted, the tuber is still particularly fresh and aromatic. But even cabbage with slightly wilted leaves is usually still edible. However, you should consume it promptly.

Basically, it is advisable to remove the stalks and leaves immediately after buying, as they remove moisture from the kohlrabi. You can then prepare the leaves immediately or store them separately in the fridge. Tip: If you wrap kohlrabi in a damp cloth and store it in the fridge, it will last a little longer.

You can eat the kohlrabi bowl with it. It is not poisonous, but often tastes quite bitter and is sometimes woody. This should tend to be less the case with smaller tubers. Depending on the variety, the shell can also be quite hard, making it difficult to chew.

When buying, you should use organically grown kohlrabi if possible. In this way you support sustainable agriculture that complies with ecological standards in cultivation and production and, in particular, avoids the use of chemical-synthetic pesticides.