Kohl Rabi Revisited

I still have a few kohl rabi sitting in my fridge, do you too?

Since we've had quite an abundance of these this year - were you thinking too many? - I have found that I've gotten creative with using this healthful cruciferous vegetable.

In fact, I've even gotten to liking it more and realizing it has some strong redeeming qualities -- it is the easiest of the cruciferous family to grow. While cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower and even kale were ravaged by bugs the kohl rabi, though loosing its leaves to flea beetles, still developed & gave us healthy meals.

Believe it or not, this spring we planted about 400 bedding plants of cabbage, broccoli & cauliflower, in two separate attempts to provide these healthful veggies for our family & yours. All to no avail. We lost virtually all of them to root bugs, cut worms and/or cabbage butterflies which infested the potential heads with worms ... ugh! You know us, we just don't use chemical!!!!!!!!!! If we did, we'd get hit with it during application, during handling and then again when we eat it. We just can't do that - it goes against our philosophy. And of course, we will not knowingly offer protein-filled garden produce to our customers -- that goes against everything too!

So, we just suffered that loss. Inevitably, we regret, it was your loss also. Perhaps we'll try again, but first we'll have to learn how to effectively grow it organically. Do you have any tried & proven ways to manage growing healthy cruciferous plants without chemicals? Do you care to share? We're always willing to learn.

Here is one way we've come to enjoy kohlrabi:



My family really enjoys this broccoli cauliflower salad. I just added diced kohl rabi to the mix and they enjoyed it just as much. One large or two small kohl rabi are enough -- too much of their tough texture is not a good thing.


Broccoli Cauliflower Salad

1 bunch broccoli - cut into bite size pieces
1/2 a head cauliflower - cut into bite size pieces
1 large kohl rabi peeled & diced
1/2 cup toasted sunflower seeds
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 large red onion, diced fine -- or use green onions, chives or white onions, but red is prettiest & it's milder flavor lends itself well to a fresh salad.
1/2 cup whipped dressing

Toss well & serve.



Another way we now enjoy kohl rabi is in stir-fires. Yummm!