Kohlrabi: Rooted in Flavor, Packed with Crunch

By Mackenzie Benjamin | February 18, 2025

This versatile yet often-underrated winter veggie deserves a place on your plate morning, noon or night!

Kohlrabi is like that distant relative you don’t see very often, who looks vaguely familiar though you can’t quite remember their name. This stem vegetable is not a cabbage, not cauliflower and not a turnip either, but it’s related to all three. The flavor of kohlrabi is often compared to that of broccoli stems and its gentle mix of sweet and bitter can be enjoyed raw (in coleslaw or cut into sticks for a crunchy snack) or cooked in any manner of ways.

Farmer Kevin O’Dwyer, co-owner of Langwater Farm in nearby North Easton, Massachusetts, prizes the vegetable’s adaptability. He says, “Personally, I love kohlrabi—it’s an underrated but versatile vegetable. I’m always amazed by the many ways our farm chef makes use of it—as kohlrabi pickles on the tuna sandwich, raw in salads or as a crunchy part of a crudité.”

As the seasons change, the farm adapts its menu to reflect the changing harvest. When cucumbers run out in the fall, they make their homemade pickles with kohlrabi instead. “[Kohlrabi] has that crisp crunchiness that you’d want from a pickled cucumber,” O’Dwyer says. You can find organically grown kohlrabi at the Langwater Farm store, both whole and in a variety of items made in their farm kitchen. You can also find Langwater Farm at the Farm Fresh RI Saturday farmers market in Providence, where you can purchase an array of the farm’s organic vegetables “from our field to our community.”

Tip: All parts of kohlrabi are edible! With the smaller kohlrabi, not only does the bulb bring a wonderful crispy crunch to salads, but the young, delicate green shoots can be tossed in as well. The green shoots are also excellent sautéed with a bit of seasoning, added to a stir fry, or thrown into a soup or salad. (Look for kohlrabi sold with their greens in late summer and fall. In wintertime, the bulbs are generally sold trimmed.)

After the tough outer layer is peeled away, this vegetable offers up great nutritional value. The farmers at Langwater Farm boast: “Kohlrabi is high in fiber, which aids in gut health and proper digestion. It is a great source of potassium and vitamin C as well. It also supports the immune system and may help lower inflammation and other diseases.”

Kohlrabi is delicious in soups and salads and in these crispy parmesan and thyme fritters, made with a combination of kohlrabi and potatoes. The fritters make a great appetizer served with mustard or aioli, or a delicious savory breakfast paired with fried eggs. When the season is right, make it a meal accompanied with a salad using those leafy green stems!