The chef's guide to cooking up delicious kohlrabi

Sometimes called cabbage turnip, kohlrabi is a sweet turnip packed with nutrients. Here's a few tips for buying and using kohlrabi in your everyday cooking.

• Fresh kohlrabi is available from mid-spring to mid-fall.
• Choose fresh-looking, deep-coloured green leaves with no yellowing, and firm bulbs with smooth skin and no soft spots.
• Bulbs should be heavy for their size. Bulbs less than seven centimetres (three inches) in diameter are the most tender. Larger ones tend to be tough and woody.
• Kohlrabi bulb and stem colour can run from white to pale green and from red to purple. The flesh is always white and the flavour is essentially the same.

• You can keep fresh kohlrabi in a ventilated plastic bag in the vegetable drawer of the refrigerator. It will stay fresh for up to two weeks.
• Kohlrabi leaves are even more nutritious than the bulb, so try cutting them up and cooking them with the bulb.
• Before cooking, discard the leaf stalks.
• The bulb can be easily peeled with a small, sharp knife, but some cooks think the flavour is better if the vegetable is cooked with its peel still in place.
• Once cut, kohlrabi flesh is quick to discolour. Put slices or cut-up pieces in a bowl of water with a little lemon juice until ready to cook.

• Kohlrabi is usually peeled, sliced or chopped and steamed until tender, then buttered and seasoned with salt and pepper.
• It's also delicious braised in a beef or chicken stock, seasoned with onions and herbs.
• Many cooks steam or microwave kohlrabi pieces and then mash them with butter and seasonings.
• Sliced kohlrabi is often used in Asian stir-fries as a substitute for the more expensive water chestnuts. It has the same crispness with a bit more flavour.
• Add small amounts of grated raw kohlrabi to salads to give a sweet, pungent accent.
• You can also cook the leaves. Start by blanching the leaves until just wilted. Drain thoroughly and chop. Sauté in butter or olive oil and season with salt and pepper.

Kohlrabi is also delicious pickled. Here's how to make a pickled version:

1. Soak slices of kohlrabi and onion for several hours in four cups of iced water mixed with four tablespoons pickling salt. Drain the vegetables and place in a medium bowl
2. In a saucepan, boil two cups vinegar, 3⁄4 cup sugar, one tablespoon mustard seed, 1 1⁄2 teaspoons celery seed and 1⁄4 teaspoon turmeric for several minutes. Stir to make sure sugar is dissolved.
3. Pour mixture over the vegetables and leave to cool. Cover and refrigerate for three days.

Packed into 125 millilitres (1/2 cup) of cooked kohlrabi:

• about 29 calories
• half the daily requirement for vitamin C
• vitamin A precursor beta-carotene to protect eyes and aid in normal cell division and growth
• antioxidant bioflavonoids to prevent cell damage by free radicals
• plenty of fibre
• 200 milligrams of potassium to maintain fluid balance and proper metabolism and muscle function

Kohlrabi has a bulblike stem that tastes like a mild sweet turnip with traces of its cruciferous cousins, cabbage and brussels sprouts, and a bit of radish. It has edible greens that are rich in iron.