Making Traditional Chow Chow

 

Making Traditional Chow Chow-

I always love learning new things! A few months ago I was watching a new series called Somewhere South hosted by the southern Chef Vivian Howard on PBS. One of the recipes it showed was Chow Chow, which I had never heard of, not being a Southerner. One of the segments was about how Chow Chow is made traditionally in Appalachia. In Appalachia in the fall, before the hard freezes came, everything would be gleaned from the garden. Things like green tomatoes, onions, cabbage, peppers, etc. The idea was basically take whatever you had on hand, chop it up, add spices in a tangy vinegary brine and make a relish. From what I have read traditionally Chow-Chow would be served with Pinto beans to brighten up the flavor. I had never actually heard that Pinto beans were a favorite in Appalachia. I tend to associate pinto beans more with Mexican food, but as we all know beans are a good source of protein, fiber and are cheap! 

There was a really interesting episode that showed the traditional Lumbee Tribe recipe of fried thin cornbread stuffed with collard greens and topped with a little Chow Chow-

From PBS.org

Video here of the couple on Somewhere South making the dish (if you can't see on your phone scroll to the bottom of the page and click on "view web version")-

Really fascinating information! I decided to make some Chow Chow just to see what it was like. One of the main components is cabbage, so it's a very different flavor profile than something like Corn relish. Also a bit less on the carbs. The Ball Blue Book has a traditional recipe in it which is basically listed above. I did add some red pepper flakes, and a little bit of garlic powder for extra flavor. After I salted the vegetables I just gave the mix a toss a few hours later. It actually tasted pretty really great as is! On Somewhere South they had a person who created fermented Chow Chow. I decided to make the traditional brine though since I didn't want to risk losing a batch. I made some Kraut a while back, I was thrilled it was really good! About six weeks later it was mush and I had to throw it out. I have no idea what went wrong. Fermented things can just be touchy, a science and an art.

Basic Ball recipe (minus the cauliflower) but you can certainly tweak Morningchores.com Chow Chow  I added a second red bell pepper and six sweet yellow Gypsy peppers. I used Apple cider vinegar but have seen recipes that used white vinegar. I omitted the cauliflower, since most other recipes I saw didn't use those. I doubled the brine, glad I did! I used a few more green tomatoes since they were small. I took the idea of using a food processer, what a time saver! You do need to pulse and not over-do it, or it could be mush. It was mazing how much juice came out of the green tomatoes right away-

I did each vegetable separately to keep an eye on the size.  I did the cabbage last, in smaller batches, as some of it got stuck-

After it sat overnight, salted, there was a lot of liquid-

I used my giant spoon-

then put it into a strainer and squashed out the liquid-

Lots of juice!

Next I rinsed in cold water and stirred well-

strained again-

I used just about all of the brine, which I DOUBLED luckily! Simmered 10 minutes, cooked the chow 10 minutes. I put in jars for the fridge. Not enough to really can. We'll use it up and give some to my kids. So far I love the flavor, very tangy!!!

UPDATE- After letting sit overnight and chilling, it was really crunchy, I loved the texture! I might go a little lighter on the sugar next time, but that's me. Nice otherwise!!!