Monday, September 9, 2013

Two Family Recipes for Tomato ChowChows--Easy and Delicious

Got an abundance of green and red tomatoes in the garden? 
Fall is a good time to make Tomato ChowChows (pickle relish) for the long winter ahead.


There's nothing like a good Tomato ChowChow on beans or peas. . . .It's a staple in our family. . . .There are as many recipes for ChowChow as there are cooks. . . .I've tried a lot of them, but none compare with the following two recipes that have been handed down for at least four generations of my family. (ChowChow is the local name for a pickle relish.)

My brother emailed me last week, wanting the recipes. . . .said he hadn't had good ChowChow in years. . . .He plans to 'can' his own this year. . . .If he's going to all that trouble, you know it's GOOD!

Thought I'd share the family recipes with you, too.

My favorite is the Green Tomato ChowChow. . . .

Green Tomato ChowChow
1 gallon green tomatoes
5 sweet green and/or red peppers
12 medium onions
3 hot peppers
1 stalk celery
1 medium cabbage
1 quart vinegar (white)
3 cups sugar
1/2 cup salt
2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp allspice
1 tsp white mustard
1 tsp cinnamon
Grind vegetables (I chop mine), put in a bag and let drip 20 minutes. Mix altogether. Bring to a boil and cook until hot through and through. Put in jars and seal.*


My Mom favored the Red Tomato ChowChow. . . .


 
Ripe (Red) Tomato ChowChow
18 ripe tomatoes, med size
5 onions, med size
2 1/2 cups sugar
2 cups vinegar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cloves
Salt to taste
Hot peppers to taste
Mix well and cook until thick. Seal in jars.*




*Do you know how to seal the jars?
We use the hot pack method of canning for our ChowChows. Everything has to be sterilized and hot.  Check out the following link if you're not familiar with the method. It's a post on peach jam but the canning would be done the same way:

To be on the safe side you might want to process your ChowChow in a water bath for approximately 10 minutes.



All this talk of ChowChow has my mouth watering for a big pot of beans, greens and cornbread. . .hmmm. . . . 
Guess where I'm heading? . . .(grin)


, , ,from my farmhouse kitchen to yours. . .

 


2 comments:

Pam said...

Mmmmm Mmmmmm, beans and cornbread what time is dinner? Thanks for sharing your recipes!
Pam
scrap-n-sewgranny.blogspot.com

Little Susie Home Maker said...

What wonderful recipes. So nice of you to share family recipes. I had never heard of Chow Chow before? But the relish sounds great!!
Blessings,
Susie

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