Clutius watercolors, 16th century
We are now harvesting the last of the Turnip Cabbage. This unusual little vegetable is better known today by the German name Kohlrabi. However, if we are to translate the German we will find that “kohl” derives from cabbage and “rabi” from turnip so to the Germans it is the Cabbage Turnip and to the English the Turnip Cabbage. By either name it is an infrequent resident in the Virginia garden but what it lacks in popularity it amends with antiquity. The “Pompeianum” colewort extolled by the Roman, Pliny the Elder, is likely the ancestor of the modern Turnip Cabbage, predating the common cabbage, cauliflower and brocolli.
While Germans are quite fond of their Kohlrabi and most commonly consume it raw, the English have never developed a taste for it. The 18th century Kohlrabi, or Turnip Cabbage, was apparently a much stronger flavored vegetable than is the modern “Vienna” strain. In Williamsburg John Randolph wrote in his Treatise on Gardening, “There is a TURNEP CABBAGE, which being very strong, is fit only for soup.” In fact, when the “turnep” cabbage was grown at all in Virginia it was most commonly grown as livestock food.
turnip cabbage, or kohlrabi
However, for those who have a taste for this curious colewort, it is of the easiest culture. They are sown spring and fall in a seed bed at the same time that the cabbage seeds are planted and transplanted to a rich soil, while still young, with no more than six leaves.
As they are small plants they may be spaced at only one foot asunder, and will be ready for harvest two weeks before the earliest cabbages. For the sweetest flavor they should be gathered when they reach two inches in diameter. As the turnip cabbage is ready for harvest within six weeks from setting out, multiple crops may be sown.
For a further explanation of the Brassica genus you are encouraged to consult: Vegetable Gardening the Colonial Williamsburg Way, 18th Century Methods for Today’s Organic Gardeners. (Rodale Press)
Thank you for spotlighting one of my favorite garden vegetables. My father passed his taste for raw kohlrabi on to me, though my husband has never been able to enjoy it equally. I usually grow it in early spring, but may have to try late fall next year in my mid-Atlantic garden.