Kohlrabi

Brassica oleracea Gongylodes Group

Kohlrabi is the swollen stem of a cabbage-family plant, not a root, even though it looks like a turnip that forgot where to grow. It belongs in the Northeast because it is a fast cool-season brassica that stores well, bridges spring and fall vegetable seasons, and gives the notebook a crisp, watery brassica ingredient that behaves differently from head cabbage or radish.¹²

McGee describes kohlrabi as a version of the basic cabbage plant whose main stem swells to several inches across, with the moist texture and mild flavor of broccoli stalk.¹ That is the useful kitchen description too: it is less leafy than kale, less dense than turnip, and more stem-like than people expect from something sold in the root-vegetable bin. Vaughan and Geissler make the same botanical point more bluntly by noting that the globe is the swollen base of the stem, with the leaves attached directly to it.³

Because it is a stem, texture matters more than sheer sweetness. Young bulbs are tender enough to eat raw or cook briefly, while oversized ones go woody.¹ University of Minnesota extension also notes that kohlrabi keeps for months in cold, moist storage, though home refrigeration usually holds quality for only a couple of weeks.² That balance of crispness, water, and storage life helps explain why it is so tempting in pickles and salt ferments.

Here it enters the graph through Lacto-Fermented Kholrabi + Maple, where its mild brassica flavor and high water content matter at least as much as its sugar level. The note title still carries the older misspelling, but the ingredient it points to is kohlrabi.