Kohlrabi ‘Gigante’

Gigante is a fabulous kohlrabi, not just for it’s fine flavour and texture but because no matter how big it grows (and it can grow giant) it never goes woody or fibrous.

• Botanical name: Brassica oleracea
• Planting: sow seeds and plant out in summer so they can be harvested through winter.
• Care: Kohlrabi don’t need a lot of care though you will have to keep the white butterflies off them as they grow with netting or vegetable dust.
• Harvest: Harvest the thickened stem when you like – from fist sized to later when they are much bigger, but before they bolt in early spring.
• Diseases: Keep white butterflies off them, and check for aphids occasionally.
• Cooking: Peel with a knife and cook like any root vegetable. I like to chop them into pieces and steam until but they can also be baked. Some people like to slice them very thin with a potato peeler and sprinkle with salt then eat raw. They have a flavour like broccoli stem.
• Seed Saving: Kohlrabi will cross with cabbages, broccoli, cauliflower etc.

If you are going to collect seed make sure you keep at least a dozen plants to let go to avoid inbreeding depression. Harvest the seed when the stems and seed go brown and dry, then strip the seeds off with your hand into a bucket.

200 seeds