Chow-Chow Recipe

Chow-chow, the candy and tangy relish of pickled greens, is a staple condiment on many Southern tables. Whereas it’s beloved all through the South, the forms of greens in it may differ relying on the place you discover it. Right here we stick to one of the vital widespread combos: inexperienced tomatoes, inexperienced cabbage, bell peppers, and onions. The pickled vegetable combination is a good way to profit from end-of-season inexperienced tomatoes and different late summer season produce earlier than that first frost hits. 

The chunky relish is tart, candy, and positive to convey a welcome pucker to your mouth. And it retains within the fridge for as much as 4 months, so you possibly can pull it out to brighten up virtually any meal—sizzling canine, hamburgers, coleslaw, stewed beans, and even salads.

Making the relish is pretty easy: The greens are merely chopped, salted, and pickled within the fridge with a medley of spices, however it’s vital to organize the greens correctly for chow-chow that’s flavorful and retains a crisp texture. For the perfect chow-chow to take you from summer season proper by way of the coldest days of fall, we requested our check kitchen colleague Renu Dhar to methodically pickle batch after batch to give you our foolproof technique. Learn on for Renu’s ideas and the total recipe.

Suggestions for Making Chow-Chow

Use a meals processor. We strongly encourage you to tug out your meals processor to cut the cabbage, bell pepper, and onion on this recipe as an alternative of chopping the components by hand. This can prevent lots of time and power. In the event you don’t have a meals processor, after all go forward and simply chop every thing with a chef’s knife—simply ensure your knife is sweet and sharp for the most secure, best chopping. One exception to the meals processor suggestion: Make sure you nonetheless lower the tomatoes by hand. Pulsing them in a meals processor will give them a sauce-like consistency, which we don’t need for this relish.

Salt the greens in a single day earlier than pickling. It’s essential to toss the chopped greens with an considerable quantity of salt and allow them to sit for an prolonged time period earlier than pickling them. Throughout this hands-off resting time, the greens will launch extra liquid, which might be later discarded earlier than they’re pickled. We’ve beforehand talked at size about the benefits of brining vegetables, and encourage you to examine it. Basically, brining drives water out of the lower greens, concentrating taste and firming up their texture barely for a extra scrumptious, completely crunchy relish. 

For greatest outcomes, begin the brining course of at room temperature and let the veggies sit for about 20 minutes to leap begin the method, then refrigerate the bowl of salted chopped greens for at the very least eight hours or as much as 12. You’ll be amazed by how a lot water seeps out of them on this time-frame—virtually three full cups water from about 4 kilos of greens! Once you’re able to pickle, drain and discard all the extra liquid earlier than continuing with the recipe.

Add sturdy seasonings. Earthy turmeric, fiery chile flakes, tangy mustard powder, brown mustard seeds, and celery seeds add a pop of taste to the in any other case easy vegetable combination. This mix of spices is flavorful sufficient so as to add curiosity to the relish with out overwhelming the greens, making it excellent to pair with a spread of meals.

Suggestions for Storing and Canning Chow-Chow

The recipe was examined and written utilizing brief time period refrigeration storage, which is able to protect the chow-chow for about 4 months. However the pickled chow-chow will also be preserved utilizing the recent water bathtub canning technique that we define in our beginner’s guide to canning. With this technique, the chow-chow will be saved for as much as a 12 months. Whether or not you go for the recent water bathtub canning technique or the simpler refrigeration storage, we advocate at all times utilizing sterilized glass jars.

Learn how to Sterilize Jars for Your Relish

To correctly sterilize jars, place clear jars on a rack in a big pot and canopy by at the very least one inch of water. Deliver to a boil and sterilize the jars by boiling for 10 minutes. You possibly can then take away the jars with lengthy metallic tongs and fill immediately, or scale back the warmth to a low simmer and maintain the jars heat till you’re prepared to make use of them. Be sure that to chill the stuffed jars to room temperature earlier than sealing and refrigerating. This can forestall trapping extreme steam within the jars, which might result in mould development.

Learn how to Serve Chow-Chow

Top-of-the-line issues about chow-chow is its versatility, and the way it provides brilliant, candy and tangy taste to every thing you pair with it. Unfold the Southern relish over a sizzling canine or a burger, combine it in a one-to-one ratio by quantity with good mayonnaise for the right coleslaw dressing or sandwich unfold, or spunk up a bowl of beans with a spoonful chow-chow and a aspect of cornbread.