Green Chow-Chow Relish Recipe
Chow chow is a spicy, green tomato relish that is a favorite condiment in the South. People like to use it on pinto beans, hot dogs, hamburgers, sausages, pork, and also black-eyed peas. Chow chow is known for being a slightly hot and spicy vegetable relish.
Chow-chow is usually created from diced green tomatoes, cabbage, onions, hot peppers, mustard seed, vinegar, and peppers. Other optional ingredients include celery, cucumbers, beans, or cauliflower. Chow-chow relish does not have a strict list of ingredients, so if you want, you can even add in radishes, corn, or red tomatoes if the sight of green tomatoes doesn’t appeal to you.
The term “relish” is from the expression “reles” which means “something remaining” in old French, which makes sense with this kind of dish since the ingredients can be changed around so much. Regardless of where chow-chow originated, what is clear is that Southerners have been using it as a condiments for hundreds of years.
Ingredients for chow chow:
nine lbs of green tomatoes
6 lbs . of yellow or white onions, peeled and finely diced
6 cups of water
1 cup of salt
four cups of white wine vinegar
4 tbsps of pickling seasonings
2 1/2 pounds light brown sugar
2 1/2 lbs . white sugar
1/2 cup of cornstarch
one teaspoon turmeric
two teaspoons of dry mustard
1 red bell pepper, seeded and finely diced
4 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely minced
Instructions:
Put your green tomatoes & onions in the largest non-reactive bowl you can find. 9 cups of tomatoes is a lot of tomatoes and the acid in the tomatoes might have an unfavorable reaction to some bowls. Add 4 cups of water and all of the salt. Allow the tomato, water and salt mixture to sit over night (eight hours, even though a dozen hours is best), covered up within the fridge.
The next morning, drain the tomatoes well inside a colander and after which you’ll set the tomatoes and onions inside a big boiling pot with the vinegar, two cups of water and pickling spice.
Bring all of this to a boil above high temperature then minimize the high temperature to low and simmer for a half-hour. Pour in all the white and brown sugar and let to simmer for another half-hour.
In another bowl, stir the cornstarch, mustard and tumeric and sprinkle into the pot. Add in the diced red bell pepper and garlic cloves and simmer for an additional 1 1/2 – 2 hours or until thick. Let cool to room temperature and then store the relish in air tight containers up to six months in the fridge.
Learn more about making pickled okra or get a hush puppies recipes here.
Incoming search terms:
