In the days of hardtack and horse drawn plows pickling was an economical way to preserve seasonal foods for year round eating. Today it is a hobby enjoyed by hippies and hillbillies with encumbrances of cucumbers or cabbage.
Chow chow relish is a North American pickled relish made from tomatoes, cabbage, onions, sugar, peppers, vinegar and whatever else you want to add. I used some celery and pears because that’s what I like, and it’s January so it isn’t possible to be choosy about organic produce.
It is common to use green tomatoes and green cabbage as in the store bought variety I sampled. I used red cabbage and red tomatoes, because that’s what I like. I also doubled the spices and increased the sugar suggested by Texas Bob.
Ingredients (fills eight pint-size canning jars):
- a cabbage
- four tomatoes
- a pear
- two lemons
- three jalapenos
- three bell peppers
- four onions
- some canning salt
- half a pint of vinegar
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 tsp. dry mustard
- 1 tsp. turmeric
- 1 tsp. allspice
- a cat (optional)
I used the Ninja food processor. It’s awesome. Peeled the pear and tomatoes. Seeded the peppers. Chopped all that shit up. Put a bunch of salt and some, but not all, of the sugar on it and let it sit there for a while to get crunchy.
Boiled the spices and vinegar for a minute or so and then added the rest of everything and simmered it until it was acceptably hot and soft.
I prepped the pint jars with hot water and soap, then filled them with chow chow. I boiled the jars in a stock pot for 15 minutes, then turned the heat off and let them sit an additional five minutes.
Then I took the jars out of the pot and let them sit overnight on the counter. The little lids start popping and sealing in the first half hour, so the next day it was OK to take the rings off and check the seal by lifting the jars by the lid.
Next time: habanero-watermelon Four LOKO jam!
