From The Food Encyclopedia by Jacques Rolland and Carol Sherman
German for "cabbage turnip." It takes its name from the Greek kohl, "kale" and the Latin rapa, or "turnips" and aptly so because it is a crossbreed of these two vegetables, a favorite of Eastern Europeans, Germans and Asians. It's also a newcomer as far as vegetables go, less than 500 years old, and also one of the few that originated in northern Europe. Rumor has it that kohlrabi came from Asia with Attila the Hun. It was first described in 1554, and by the end of the 1500s was known in Germany, England, Italy and Spain. Records of its cultivation in the U.S. go back to 1806. It's not a root, but actually a swollen rhizome, like ginger that is globe-shaped with green stems and leaves that jut out on all sides. They may be green or red, like beets, with red-veined leaves. In the garden, one of the most amazing things - and one of the motives for growing kohlrabi - is that a few plants of the fragrant blooms discourage more garden pests than a pint of malathion (a common chemical found in nurseries to eliminate garden pests). In France, it's called chou-rave, in Italy cavalo rapa, in Spain colinabo, in Russia kohlrabbe, in Denmark, kaalrabi, and in Portugal, cove rabano.
