Garden

[RedTop]

The base for our southern chow chow recipe is cabbage.   Then we add onions, carrots, green and red peppers.   I have eaten chow chow with green tomatoes in it, but we never added tomatoes to ours.   

We also made a relish from cucumbers and onions, which is very good.    

[Lilysmom]

@Hoovermom, it could very well be the same.  It tastes sweet.  We always have it in the pantry.  DH loves it on everything.  LM

[Lilysmom]

@RedTop, my mother made a sweet relish that I still make.  It has cukes, cauliflower, celery, onions and red peppers.  It has a mustard color to it (tumeric I think).  We love it on hamburgers and hotdogs.  We also use it to spice up chicken salad sandwiches, lobster sandwiches, tuna, etc.  

I have that recipe but I would worry about posting it because I change it every time I make it.

That southern chow sounds yummy.  I love cabbage.  LM

[Lilysmom]

All finished bottling the chow.  Thirty bottles.  

Photo 1 is a photo of the pickling spice I use.  Photos 2 and 3 are bottled up chow.

I started at 8 a.m. and finished around 2:30 pm.  We share with family and neighbors.  LM

[Hoovermom]

So nice @Lilysmom!!

[mousiegirl]

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@Lilysmom wrote:

@JustJazzmom@Kachina624@OKPrincess@PinkyPetunia@tedEbear@sweetbay@steelmagnolia54@millieshops, some call it chow, some call it chow chow.  Here is Wikipedia ‘s definition...

Chow-chow (also spelled chowchow or chow chow) is a North American pickled relish. ... These ingredients are pickled in a canning jar. After preserving, chow-chow is served cold, often as a condiment or relish.

My father always had a huge vegetable garden.  Every spring one of the local farmers came with a tractor and plowed the garden field in prep for planting.  I come from a large family (I am number 8 of ten children).  My mother always made preserves.  Chow chow, relishes, pickled beets, jams  were an annual event.

We eat chow with roasts, shops, steak, etc.  We would never think of putting on a turkey dinner without all the preserves.

What you see above is 40 lbs, 30 of green tomatoes, ten of onions and 8 red peppers.  A double batch.  The yield for each batch is 12-15 bottles depending on bottle size.

Here is the recipe:

15 lbs of green tomatoes

5 pounds of onions

4 red peppers

Dice, sprinkle 1 cup of coarse salt through the vegetables, let sit over nite.

The next day, drain off excess water.  In a large stock pot, add vegetables, 4 cups of vinegar, 5 cups of sugar, pickling spice wrapped in cheese cloth.   Simmer 3-4 hours.  Bottle in sterilized bottles while hot.

We go into production today.  I will post the finished product.  LM

PS, thank heavens for food processors.  We used to do all this by hand!

PS, in case anyone copied the recipe earlier, the vinegar is 4 cups and the sugar is 5 cups.  Had them reversed earlier.  Hopefully anyone that saw this earlier will use the correct amounts as adjusted above.  LM

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@Lilysmom  Where do you find green tomatoes?  If the weather here doesn't get hot soon, has beern cooler for a month, I will have plenty of green tomatoes, but not fifteen pounds, and they are not sold around here.

[mousiegirl]

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@Lilysmom wrote:

All finished bottling the chow.  Thirty bottles.  

Photo 1 is a photo of the pickling spice I use.  Photos 2 and 3 are bottled up chow.

I started at 8 a.m. and finished around 2:30 pm.  We share with family and neighbors.  LM

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@Lilysmom  I used to can so much, now I put things in the freezer.  I am collecting tomatillos daily from the garden, have enough now to make a large batch of salsa verde for the freezer in portions for meals, and many more to come.

I planted two new varieties this year, one supposedly produces large fruit, hate the small due to all of the peeling, but tons of volunteers came up all over don't know where they came from because there was no fruit lying on the ground through winter, didn't get much last year, but I am getting large fruit from the volunteers, so this is exciting as I would like to have enough sauce to last until next years harvest.

I had only heard of the chow chow with cabbage until yours.   My relatives in Canada always had condiments with lunch meat every day due to the humidity had to eat cold.

[colliemom4]

My father in law perserves all sorts of things but I find them very strange. He's pretty old so I wonder if he knows what he's doing anymore lol. @Lilysmom Your chow looks very good.

[Lilysmom]

@mousiegirl, we have farm markets all over the place.  You have to know when to get them because they don’t last long.  Any farm market can advise you as to timing in your area.  There is quite a bit of farming in Nova Scotia. LM

[Lilysmom]

@colliemom4, I know what you mean!  As long as it gets eaten, I guess it’s good!  It is a wonderful condiment with meat, poultry and fish.  We wouldn’t dream of putting on a big dinner without it.  LM