Kohlrabi is an acquired taste. It’s bland, with a mild hint of mustard-like fire, and is surrounded by a tough, thick peel.
“It tastes like the part of broccoli you throw away,” Sarah Aswell wrote for McSweeney’s in a piece called “Your First CSA: A Month-By-Month Guide to Enjoying Your Farm Share.”
Comparing kohlrabi to broccoli stalk is taxonomically sound, as kohlrabi is the swollen stem of a plant in the same family as broccoli. Its name means “cabbage turnip” in German, and both cabbage and turnip are in the brassica family as well. Kohlrabi was bred over many generations to have rounder and larger stems, which enabled perhaps the one edge that kohlrabi has: It’s ready early in the season; no need to wait for flowers, fruit, or seeds to develop….