Harmony Valley Farm: June 16, 2022 - This Week's Box Contents Featuring Kohlrabi

Welcome back for another week of cooking! This is our last CSA box of the spring as next week will mark the official start of summer! This week you may notice a transition in the box contents a bit. We’re moving into some of our mid-season greens such as kale, while finishing up our spring planted baby greens. We’re also starting to see more of our more “durable” vegetables such as broccoli and kohlrabi! With this week’s heat wave, the crops are really starting to take off so get ready as we’ll have more new items coming over the next few weeks including zucchini, beets, fennel and before too long the first crop of carrots!

This week we’re featuring kohlrabi and I’ve given you a lot of options for how to use this unique vegetable! Read on in the vegetable feature article that follows and you’ll find a long list of kohlrabi recipe ideas. I’ve also included a simple recipe for Lemon Dill Kohlrabi Fritters as our featured recipe this week. This is a tasty recipe that you could make for breakfast, lunch or dinner! These fritters are a great accompaniment to eggs for breakfast or brunch, but would also be a great side dish for grilled pork chops, steak or roasted chicken. If you are looking for a light lunch or dinner option, they could also serve as a main item for a light meal accompanied by a green salad!

In addition to the extravaganza of kohlrabi recipes, I’ve tried to give you a mix of different recipe inspirations for the other vegetables this week ranging from salads to smoothies, tea sandwiches and quiche, or if you want to get a little more adventurous you can try your hand at wonton soup or spring rolls!

Have a great week and next week we’ll officially transition to summer, complete with strawberries and a few other surprises!

---Chef Andrea

Vegetable Feature: Kohlrabi

by Andrea Yoder

Kohlrabi in the field

Richard and I re-learned an important lesson this week. Never underestimate the growth potential of a vegetable! We had planned to include kohlrabi in this week’s boxes, but last Saturday we both went to the kohlrabi field and both agreed it was just too small. The crop needed more time. So I revised the list of box contents and we set up our harvest schedule for the week. And then on Monday morning Richard returned to the office just before lunch with three sizeable kohlrabi and a report that most of them were that size and we needed to start harvesting them! Really? In less than 48 hours those little kohlrabi took off and grew! I wish now I had stayed in the field a little longer. Perhaps I may have actually seen them expanding! So it’s clear these kohlrabi were determined to keep their place in this week’s box and as such we’ve designated them as our featured vegetable this week!

While kohlrabi bears resemblance to other vegetables with some of its characteristics, it’s really just uniquely its own thing. It is a member of the Brassica family, and the name is derived from “khol” meaning stem or cabbage and “rabi” meaning turnip. But it doesn’t resemble cabbage or turnip in appearance, rather it has its own unique identity. While many people think kohlrabi is a root vegetable, it is actually a swollen stem that develops above ground! The stems and leaves shoot up from the bulbous lower portion.

So what part of kohlrabi do you eat? Well, the bulb is the part of the plant most commonly eaten, but the leaves are also edible and should not be overlooked. The leaves have a thicker texture more similar to kale or collard greens. They are best eaten cooked and can be substituted for collard greens or kale in many recipes. I usually strip the leaves off the main stems before using them. If you are a fan of kale chips, you can do the same thing with kohlrabi leaves. I tried this concept earlier this week and they were excellent! The bulb does need to be peeled before eating as the outer skin is fairly tough. I find it easiest to cut the bulb in half or quarters and then peel the skin away using a vegetable peeler or paring knife as if you’re peeling an apple. Once the skin is peeled away you’ll find a solid, crispy, juicy, tender flesh inside with a sweet, mild cabbage flavor. The bottom of the bulb where it is cut from the stem when it is harvested can also sometimes be a bit tough. I usually just trim the very bottom of the bulb off and use the remainder. To store kohlrabi, separate the stems and leaves from the bulb and store both in a plastic bag in the refrigerator. The leaves will keep for about 1 week, and the bulbs will last up to several weeks if stored properly.

Now, kohlrabi has gotten a bad rap at times in the past. Several years ago, pre pandemic, when I was doing CSA fairs, I had several people complain about kohlrabi. While they had not yet participated in our CSA, they voiced similar generalizations that kohlrabi is a difficult vegetable that people in CSAs get way too much of. Contrary to urban myth, kohlrabi is a very cool vegetable! I can’t speak for other farms, but we plant kohlrabi in two specific places in the season. In the spring, kohlrabi is ready for harvest before other brassicas such as cabbage and cauliflower. In the fall we grow a different variety of kohlrabi intended to be stored well into the winter. So kohlrabi is not a filler vegetable, but rather we grow it intentionally because it’s part of our progression through the seasons and it’s delicious! What is there to not love about kohlrabi!?! It’s sweet, mild flavored, crispy, crunchy, versatile and unique. You can eat it raw, roasted, baked, pan-fried and stir-fried. You can use it in salads, on pizza, to make risotto and soup as well as a whole host of other dishes from all around the world!

Over the years we’ve featured a variety of kohlrabi recipes in our newsletters, which are archived on our website. If you ask Farmer Richard what his favorite way to eat kohlrabi is, I guarantee he’ll always say “Creamy Kohlrabi Slaw!” While we will enjoy kohlrabi in this way, it may be used in more ways beyond creamy slaw! Even though I’ve been searching for kohlrabi recipes for years, I hit a landmine of some ideas this week! Maybe it’s just becoming more popular, or maybe I just wasn’t looking in the right place to find the gems of recipes. Check out the list of recipes below and hopefully you’ll find something intriguing to make week!

As with other vegetables in this family, kohlrabi is rich in nutrients. It is an excellent source of vitamin C, fiber, potassium and antioxidants. It is low in calories and sodium, and contains indoles, which are believed to be potentially significant anti-cancer compounds.

Kohlrabi Crisps

Vegetarian Kohlrabi Gratin with Dill & Mustard

Spicy Kohlrabi Salad

Simple Kohlrabi Salad

Chinese Pork and Kohlrabi Fried Rice

Kohlrabi Stir-Fried with Garlic & Egg

Stir-Fried Kohlrabi with Bacon & Scallions

Kohlrabi Noodles with Brown Sage Butter

Kale & Kohlrabi Gnocchi

Kohlrabi Salad with Cilantro, Jalapeno & Lime

Kohlrabi Slaw with Fennel & Apple

Kohlrabi Lasagna with Cheesy Cream Cheese Layers

Kohlrabi and Bok Choi pizza (with kale)

Kohlrabi Kale Slaw with Honey Dijon Dressing & Dill

Kohlrabi & Chickpea Salad

Kohlrabi in White Sauce

Grilled Cheese with Apples, Dijon & Kohlrabi

Lemon Dill Kohlrabi Fritters

Yield: 8-10 fritters

2 heaping cups grated kohlrabi

1 cup finely chopped scallions or onions

⅓ to ½ cup all-purpose flour or oat flour

2 Tbsp fresh dill, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves or 2 Tbsp garlic scapes, finely chopped

1 tsp lemon zest

¾ tsp salt

Freshly ground black pepper

2 eggs lightly beaten

Olive oil for cooking

Remove the skin from the kohlrabi with a paring knife. Grate the kohlrabi using a hand grater, box grater, or julienne peeler. Transfer to a clean dish towel and squeeze as much water as possible out of it over the sink. You may also put the kohlrabi in a colander and press out the liquid.
Add the drained, grated kohlrabi to a mixing bowl with the scallions or onion, flour, dill, garlic or garlic scapes, lemon zest, and salt. Pour in the lightly beaten eggs and mix until the batter comes together. You may want to start with just one egg to see if that is sufficient to bring the batter together. The batter will be a little loose, but if it appears too wet, add one or two more tablespoons of flour.
Place a medium to large skillet on the stove and heat over medium to medium-high heat. Add enough oil to generously cover the pan and heat just until it simmers. Using two serving spoons, take a scoop of batter from the bowl and form a fritter by patting the batter into the bowl of one spoon with the other spoon. They should be about ½-inch thick and 2 inches wide. Slide the fritter directly off the spoon and into the hot oil.
Cook the fritters in batches for 2 to 3 minutes on each side until golden brown, then flip it over and cook the second side until golden brown. You may need to adjust the heat so they cook evenly and through to the center. A bit of patience is helpful here. If the pan is too hot the fritters will blacken and the centers will not be cooked.
Once cooked, either serve them immediately or place them on a sheet tray with a rack and hold them in the oven at low heat until you are ready to serve them.
Serve them warm with a dollop of sour cream, yogurt, a pat of butter and/or applesauce, or just plain!

Recipe sourced from https://itsavegworldafterallcom/kohlrabi-fritters.....with a few minor adaptations by Chef Andrea.

Wednesday, June 15, 2022

June 16, 2022 - This Week's Box Contents Featuring Kohlrabi

Cooking With This Week's Box

Vegetable Feature: Kohlrabi

Lemon Dill Kohlrabi Fritters

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