Chow Chow Pickles

I love chow! Or "chow chow" as we always called it! So about 12 years ago now I tried to make it, and ended up putting waaaay too much all spice and cloves into it. Wow that was overpowering! And it shied me away from making them for some 10 years. And unfortunately when I did make them 10 years later I'd already forgotten the lesson of the all spice and cloves, so when I made this they were waaaaay too spicy, but have mellowed now with age. Normally when I make something I don't follow a recipe, I take a look at several recipes to figure out the 'essence' of that thing, and then use that knowledge to decide what I want to do for myself.

This is the same approach I used for my Chow back in 2007 when my Aikido Sensei wanted to make a big batch with me to split, so I'll give all the recipes together along with what we finally made.

Keep in mind this makes a lot. We filled a 45 litre pot! I dug around and found 2 good-looking recipes of my own, and Sensei had a recipe that he liked too. So we sort of combined them all.

Chow Chow - Recipe #1

• 15 lbs green tomatoes
• 5 lbs onions
• 1/2 cup salt
• 1 quart vinegar
• 1/2 tsp cloves
• 1/2 tsp mixed spice (pickling spice?)
• 1/2 tsp allspice
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp dry mustard
• 3 cups sugar
• cayenne pepper (optional)

Prepare vegetables and sprinkle with salt. Let stand overnight. In the morning, drain. To 1 cup of vinegar add the spices, mustard and sugar. Add to the remaining, vinegar and pour over vegetables. Boil for 2 hours or more. Bottle.

Chow Chow - Recipe #2

Makes about 6 pint jars

• 7.5 lbs green tomatoes
• 6 good-sized onions
• 3/4 cup pickling salt
• 1 tablespoon celery seed
• 1 tablespoon whole allspice
• 1 tablespoon mustard seed
• 1 tablespoon whole cloves
• 1 tablespoon dry mustard
• 1 tablespoon peppercord
• 1/2 lemon
• 2 sweet red peppers
• 2.5 cups brown sugar
• 3 cups vinegar (5%)

Wash tomatoes well, cut off blossom ends, blemishes and stems. Slice thin crossways. Peel and slice onions in thin rings. Sprinkle salt over alternate layers of sliced tomatoes and onions in an earthenware dish, and let stand in a cool place overnight. Drain off the brine, rinse the vegetables thoroughly in cold water, and drain well. Slice the lemon thinly and remove the seeds; wash the peppers well, removed stems and seeds, slice thinly crossways. Tie all the spices loosely in muslin or double layer of cheesecloth, add the spice bag and the sugar to the vinegar in large enamel kettle; bring to a boil. Add the tomatoes, onions, lemon and peppers. Cook for 30 minutes after the mixture returns to a boil, stirring gently to prevent scorching. Remove the spice bag, pack the pickles in hot jars, and cover with boiling hot liquid, leaving 1/2 inch of headroom. Adjust lids. Proces in a 185F/85C bath for 10 minutes. Remove jars, complete seals if necessary.

Sensei's Chow

• 2 quarts tomatoes, chopped
• 1/4 cup salt

cover, let stand 24hours + drain

add :

• 1 tsp pepper
• 1.5 tsp mustard
• 1.5 tsp cinnamon
• 1.5 tsp ground cloves
• 0.5 tsp allspice
• 1/4 tsp white mustard seed
• 1 chopped onion
• 1 qt mild cider vinegar
• 2 red peppers sliced (or 1 red, 1 green)

Bring to boil, simmer 15 minutes. Makes 4 pints.

Based on 2nd and 3rd recipes which make 6 and 4 pints respectively, I believe that 2 quarts is about 5 lbs

Final Recipe

So the final recipe was more or less Sensei's x 8 but with 5 cups sugar added.

• 40 lbs chopped green tomatoes
• 9 cups chopped onions
• 16 large red peppers, chopped
• 8 litres total regular white vinegar instead of 8 litres cider vinegar
• 5 cups sugar (as mentioned)
• 8 x the amount of spices listed in Sensei's recipe

I think the spicing is probably just a tad too much for me so next time I'd cut it by about 20-30% - though the wife says it's most likely the allspice I don't like so maybe cut it way back to 25%. And half as much cloves as well. It will still make a very nice chutney sort of thing though. Upping the sugar to 7 or 8 cups might also be nice

Yield

• 20 x 1 litre
• 12 x 500ml