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Kohlrabi Convert
Jun. 19th, 2009 11:46 amWe got our first box of CSA veggies yesterday, and I just ate half a kohlrabi. They are AWESOME raw. Thanks to ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
dddragonlady for the encouragement to try it raw with a little salt. At the risk of a vegetable version of "it tastes like chicken," kohlrabi in my personal opinion tastes very much like a raddish. It has a very peppery bite, a watery crunch, and just hint of its cabbage family origins. The only good advice I read before chopping it up was to remove its skin/casing. It's not easy to figure out where the edge/rind/casing ends, but if you eat it raw the casing-bits are really tough and hard to chew (I accidentally missed a little, so I now have personal experience with that.) I just sliced mine in half and pared the tough outside off with a sharp knife. I also saved the greens because they're edible and can be prepared ala mustard greens and other Southern delights.
Also, I am extremely pleased which our choice of Driftless Organics. We get a box that was intended for a "couple" and which comes only every other week. I think the amount of veggies we got is very manageable on that schedule. The other nice thing is that Driftless washes and bags a lot of the various greens and whatnot. Our spinich and arugala came in lovely little baggies all ready to just pull out and toss on a salad. The head of buttercrunch lettuce needed a bit of washing, particularly at the crown where dirt settled, but I always wash salad stuff anyway. The potaotes also came in a small bag, and look lovely. The two head of brocolli is just about one more than I normally would buy for a two week grocery run, but Mason actually adores brocolli cooked and raw, so I suspect we'll be able to eat that up in no time.
I did make a culinary mistake last night, as I did not properly identify the green garlic, which I mistook for green onion. Thus our chicken/cheese flautas were a bit on the garlicky side, but actually still pretty tolerable. Now that I've conquered kohlrabi, I'm going to have to do a bit of research into how to use green garlic, which obviously I can't even pick out of a veggie line-up, as it were. I think I was thrown because the farmers list of possilbe box contents included both green garlic and green onions (which in our case are actually purple), and I think that threw me. I thought the purple things must be the garlics and the white bulby ones the onions. Nope. Other way round!
But there was only a single, solitary kohlrabi, which is now already half eaten... so I doubt I will need any elaborate recipies to get rid of it. And, like I said, the fact that everything came in such managable sizes and containers, I'm right pleased.
I really need to get writing now, though, as I allowed myself to be distracted this morning by a bit of astrology. I signed up for an on-line study group for astrology, and the instructor posted everyone's charts. I totally had to go find out what kind of weirdos I was sharing the class with! (Actually, they're not all that, but I am the only Scorpio and probably the only one with that kind of I-could-totally-dominate-you-while-stabbing-you-in-the-back attitude. They're probably all at home looking at my chart thinking: eek!)
Anyway, we almost had to cancel plans to head up to our friends' cabin in Wisconsin because Shawn has an unexpected business trip to D.C. on Tuesday, but we're hoping to get up there for a day-trip at least. I'm going to bring my laptop (and my astrology books! and maybe some kohlrabi!!)
dddragonlady for the encouragement to try it raw with a little salt. At the risk of a vegetable version of "it tastes like chicken," kohlrabi in my personal opinion tastes very much like a raddish. It has a very peppery bite, a watery crunch, and just hint of its cabbage family origins. The only good advice I read before chopping it up was to remove its skin/casing. It's not easy to figure out where the edge/rind/casing ends, but if you eat it raw the casing-bits are really tough and hard to chew (I accidentally missed a little, so I now have personal experience with that.) I just sliced mine in half and pared the tough outside off with a sharp knife. I also saved the greens because they're edible and can be prepared ala mustard greens and other Southern delights.Also, I am extremely pleased which our choice of Driftless Organics. We get a box that was intended for a "couple" and which comes only every other week. I think the amount of veggies we got is very manageable on that schedule. The other nice thing is that Driftless washes and bags a lot of the various greens and whatnot. Our spinich and arugala came in lovely little baggies all ready to just pull out and toss on a salad. The head of buttercrunch lettuce needed a bit of washing, particularly at the crown where dirt settled, but I always wash salad stuff anyway. The potaotes also came in a small bag, and look lovely. The two head of brocolli is just about one more than I normally would buy for a two week grocery run, but Mason actually adores brocolli cooked and raw, so I suspect we'll be able to eat that up in no time.
I did make a culinary mistake last night, as I did not properly identify the green garlic, which I mistook for green onion. Thus our chicken/cheese flautas were a bit on the garlicky side, but actually still pretty tolerable. Now that I've conquered kohlrabi, I'm going to have to do a bit of research into how to use green garlic, which obviously I can't even pick out of a veggie line-up, as it were. I think I was thrown because the farmers list of possilbe box contents included both green garlic and green onions (which in our case are actually purple), and I think that threw me. I thought the purple things must be the garlics and the white bulby ones the onions. Nope. Other way round!
But there was only a single, solitary kohlrabi, which is now already half eaten... so I doubt I will need any elaborate recipies to get rid of it. And, like I said, the fact that everything came in such managable sizes and containers, I'm right pleased.
I really need to get writing now, though, as I allowed myself to be distracted this morning by a bit of astrology. I signed up for an on-line study group for astrology, and the instructor posted everyone's charts. I totally had to go find out what kind of weirdos I was sharing the class with! (Actually, they're not all that, but I am the only Scorpio and probably the only one with that kind of I-could-totally-dominate-you-while-stabbing-you-in-the-back attitude. They're probably all at home looking at my chart thinking: eek!)
Anyway, we almost had to cancel plans to head up to our friends' cabin in Wisconsin because Shawn has an unexpected business trip to D.C. on Tuesday, but we're hoping to get up there for a day-trip at least. I'm going to bring my laptop (and my astrology books! and maybe some kohlrabi!!)
