The Kohlrabi Chronicles, or What Can I Make With This?

Stumpers: Vitamin green (a leafy green in the bok choy family), Costata Romanesca and pattypan squash, eggplant overload.

Strategies: "The vitamin green looks like a cross between a choy and a chard, with a white stem. Chop up the stem and cook it first, then add the leaves later. It's good with shrimp; or onions, garlic and carrots.

"Costata Romanesca, an Italian variety of zucchini, has more of a light green skin with a stripe, and people don't know whether to treat it the same as the regular kind. You do. It's nuttier-tasting, with a better texture that doesn't get as mushy when it's sauteed. Grill it with everything.

"Some older folks call the pattypan 'simlin' [cymling]. I tell people to stand the pattypan up and slice it in little sections as they rotate it, because the core has all the seeds.

"I don't consider myself much of a cook, but I make these eggplant chips that people seem to go crazy over -- even those who say they don't like eggplant. It'll take care of however much eggplant you have."

CARRIE VAUGHN, Chesapeake Bay Foundation's Clagett Farm in Upper Marlboro, who has been vegetable production manager there since 2001:

Stumpers: Eight ball zucchini, okra, even tomatoes.

Strategies: The zucchini are "round, about the size of an eight ball, and people don't really know if they're the same. They're good for stuffing. It's good to know how young/old they are; if they're young, you don't need to scoop out the seed cavity. If they're more mature, the seed cavity is more pronounced. Cut them into rounds and they won't fall through the slats of the grill. I tend to put them in stir-fries.

"Okra is still a stumper for Northerners. People from the South know what to do with it. I like to tell folks to roll okra in seasoning, like Old Bay or whatever they like, and drizzle it with a little oil, then pop it in the toaster oven or under the broiler until it gets soft. Left whole, the okra doesn't get as slimy. Or they could put it in a pan with squash, peppers and tomatoes. The tomatoes kind of disguise okra's texture.

"One customer was convinced that we'd bought our tomatoes from the store, because they had no aroma. So here's a tip: Just look at our stained clothes and you'll know. We grow them! And if the tomato still has its stem, that's what you'll be smelling."

Do you have ways of dealing with unusual fruits and vegetables that you'd like to share? Join us for the Food section's Free Range online chat today at 1 p.m. Go tohttp://www.washingtonpost.com/food.