I am not real sure why this is called “Chow Chow” but it is something my grandmother used to make at the end of the harvest season when she knew first frost was getting ready to hit and she had green tomatoes that needed to be harvested or she would lose them. She used to have a huge garden. My mom remembers walking into the kitchen when my gma was making this and just dying from the smell (she absolutely adored it). Whenever she comes to visit I make this for her. Grant it I don’t have a big enough garden for the number of green tomatoes this takes, so I buy mine from the local farmers mkt.
32 cups of green pitted tomatoes, chopped
2 cups brown sugar
3 lbs onions
1 box pickling spice tied in a cheesecloth bag
2 red peppers, chopped
Vinegar to cover all ingredients
Wash and slice tomatoes. Add 1/2 cup of salt and let stand overnight. In the morning, boil 10 minutes in the juice of the tomatoes. Drain well. Add cut onions and peppers to the tomatoes and sugar. Put enough vinegar in the pot to cover the ingredients and bring to a boil. Pour the mixture into sterilized jars, seal and process in a water bath for 10 minutes.
My mother absolutely dies and goes to heaven every time she eats it It just brings her back to her childhood. I love memories like that. I do the same whenever we are making gravy (sauce). My dad used to make a batch every Sunday morning and I would wake up to the smell of that boiling away on the stove…sigh…
Yup…we call sauce gravy…everyone used to look at me weird and I still have to translate ;). Your household sounded a lot like mine. My Great Gpa used to have an appetizer of garlic and bread and a glass of wine. that was it…a big hunk of roasted garlic, slathered overy crusty bread and a big glass of red wine. This was for lunch and dinner!!
I have tried to keep up a lot of those traditions…hence my DH is now on a diet. I learned to control the portions he did not (hehehe). There is definitely nothing like Italian food.
We do as well. I just found a place where we can buy elephant garlic. Understanding that elephant garlic isn’t nearly as potent as regular garlic, BUT one clove is the size of a lemon!!! Holy Crappola, my DH and I are in heaven when we cook now. We will add about 4 - 5 cloves in a recipe and when we are done the cloves are like butta SIGH…
Just finished pickling about 6 jars of the stuff…added fresh rosemary to 3 of the jars and dill to the other 3. We add them to salads and stuff.
Don’t we wish sometimes that we could just turn back the hands of time. Nothing does it for me like food and my Mom’s cooking. Thanks for the memories… You two gals are making me hungry, wish one of you lived on each side of my house…
It just brings her back to her childhood. I love memories like that. I do the same whenever we are making gravy (sauce). My dad used to make a batch every Sunday morning and I would wake up to the smell of that boiling away on the stove…sigh…