John Myers
As a fast-growing vegetable that requires little care, kohlrabi is a popular and tasty side dish. Depending on the variety of the tuber, it is extremely frost-hardy. This frost improves the taste of the kohlrabi tuber. The kohlrabi is harvested until winter.
Sowing, growing, and watering the kohlrabi in the vegetable garden
If you want to harvest your kohlrabi tuber early, you cannot avoid a pre-culture. It can be sown outdoors from April to May, but this requires the kohlrabi seedlings to be cultivated. If the tuber is already sown in February, it must be grown under glass. In order for it to germinate optimally, a temperature of 18 to 20 degrees is necessary. In the bed, in the garden, she comes at the end of March/April. The seedlings must be planted high, this ensures the formation of the kohlrabi tuber. It is precise with this formation of tubers that the soil must be watered evenly. If the vegetable garden is well composted, the kohlrabi does not need fertilizer.
Harvesting the kohlrabi
If the kohlrabi is planted with a planting distance of approx. 25 centimeters and a distance between the rows of approx. 30 centimeters, the planted vegetables can be harvested after 8 to 12 weeks. If the tubers have a diameter of approx. 10 centimeters, they are particularly tasty and tender. If you leave kohlrabi in the ground for too long, they will become too large and become woody quickly. Thus, the best harvest time for most varieties is May to October. Various varieties can also be harvested well into winter. If there is a wine-growing climate even into spring.
Kohlrabi – Brassica oleracea var. gongylodes
Kohlrabi has many names and is used in different versions. So you can the turnip, turnip, turnip cabbage, or turnip cabbage:
- Fry in hot fat or grill on the garden grill – the kohlrabi slices are breaded for this
- Cook with or without light sauce – serve as a side dish with potatoes and meat
- raw, cut into strips or slices, raw or shaved as a type of sauerkraut
- steamed as a side dish
- cooked as a soup, casserole, or stew ingredient
- filled with grilled meat
- Kohlrabi leaves can be prepared like other leafy greens.
Rich in vitamins, the side dish kohlrabi can be served with almost anything. Kohlrabi contains protein as well as fiber and very little fat or carbohydrates. It contains minerals such as phosphorus, calcium, potassium, magnesium, and iron. Kohlrabi also has vitamins A, C, B 1, B 2 and niacin. The kohlrabi leaves, which many consumers discard, are also extremely good to use as a vegetable. They have 10 times the amount of iron and calcium and even 100 times the amount of carotene. The vitamin C content of the leaves is twice as high as that of the tuber.
Tips and tricks
Harvest the kohlrabi as early as possible, as they are still tender. Always peel the vegetables and eat them raw. As a side dish, do not let it cook for too long, it is better to just steam it. Also, use the rich leaves of the kohlrabi tuber as a vegetable.
