I’m honored to share Granny’s Chow Chow with you today! From time to time I send out a call for submissions to email subscribers so that they can share their heritage recipes and stories with us. I sent out one a few weeks back and got so many wonderful submissions! I can’t wait to share them all with you but plan on doing it bit by bit so we have time to enjoy each one. Today’s Guest Kitchen recipe and story is from Joyce Bacon and I know you’ll enjoy it as much as I have. Thank you so much Joyce and all who read this for being such a great part of the Southern Plate Family!
Gratefully,
Christy
My maternal grandmother (Granny) was born in Alabama, moved to Kentucky as a young bride, eventually ending up in Southern West Virginia where she raised her 8 children. My paternal grandmother died when I was only 2 so growing Granny was the only grandmother I had. I loved her dearly and loved to be around her. I liked to stay for days on end at her house. Grandpa was a preacher and I liked going to church with him (especially revivals) and liked hanging out with Granny in the kitchen. I liked her story about how chow-chow came to be.
She was born on a farm and always had a garden. No matter which coal town they moved to, Granny always had a little garden patch. At the end of the growing season as the weather began to turn cold, there were leftovers and stragglers on the vines and plants….usually a few green tomatoes, some under-developed peppers, so they all were gathered up and with the addition of some onions and cabbage, used to make Chow-Chow……nothing ever wasted! Some people called it “end of season relish”.
I would help her by crawling under the porch and pulling out the bushel baskets of jars, all dusty and covered with cobwebs. I would squirt them down with the garden hose before bringing them into the kitchen where they would be thoroughly scrubbed before being boiled and set upside down on clean towels to wait for the finished Chow-Chow. How I loved to eat the Chow-Chow with her delicious pinto beans and corn bread (all crunchy around the edges)
When I became an adult I learned that in some areas it is called piccalili. In the Pennsylvania Dutch areas near where I now live, chow chow is made with large “chunks” of vegetables including carrots, celery, and green beans. It’s okay but it’s not what I grew up with.
I still make Chow-Chow for my family and I use Granny’s old 2 gallon crock churn to salt it down overnight. When the Chow-Chow is finished, I use my paternal grandmother’s glass canning funnel to fill the jars. It always gives me a good feeling that I am continuing family traditions. Neither of my daughter’s have shown an interest in making Chow-Chow but I still have hope for my granddaughters.
Ingredients
- 12 medium onions 4 cups
- 1 medium head of cabbage 4 cups
- 10 green tomatoes 4 cups
- 12 green bell peppers
- 6 sweet red bell peppers
- ½ cup coarse salt
- 6 cups granulated sugar
- 2 T mustard seed
- 1 T celery seed
- 1 ½ tsp. turmeric
- 4 cups white vinegar
- 2 cups water
Instructions
- Chop vegetables finely using food processor or grinder. Place chopped vegetables in porcelain or glass container; sprinkle with the salt; cover and let stand overnight.
- Place vegetables in large colander and rinse very well under cold running water. (divide into smaller batches if necessary)
- Drain thoroughly and place in large stockpot. Combine remaining ingredients and pour over chopped vegetables. Heat to boiling and then boil 4 minutes. Ladle into clean pint jars which have been sterilized in boiling water. Seal with sterilized lids according to manufacturers instructions. Process in boiling water bath for 10 minutes.
- Makes approx. 8 pints.
Everything that is past is either a learning experience to grow on,
a beautiful memory to reflect on, or a motivating factor to act upon.
– Denis Waitley. Submitted by Jenny. Submit your positive or motivational quote by clicking here.
Yum 
Chow Chow is very popular here in southwest Virginia. I have to say that I did not know the history behind it until now. Thank you for your story and for sharing the history of chow chow. I absolutely love to eat it on my hot dogs and I love this recipe! Thank you!
Oh wow…I know if I made this my husband would eat every single bit of it…lol…He loves Chow Chow. I have never really cared for it, but I just may have to try and make this! Thank you so much for your recipe and story! 🙂
I know what you mean. When I make it my husband will eat it with a spoon right out of the jar.
I have my great-grandmother’s recipe for chow-chow that was given to me
by my grandmother. They were both from Mississippi, although grandmother lived in GA by the time I was born. I love it on pintos, but also
on field peas, blackeye peas and other legumes. My recipe is quite similar except it has cinnamon and flour added. The flour gives it a light sauce
consistency, and the cinnamon just gives it a hint of spice…not enough to
taste like dessert!!!
Thanks for sharing your story. I still have my recipe,
and that for green tomato pickles and bread ‘n butter pickles from the same grandmother written in her hand. I know how special those memories are for you, as they are for me.
I grew up in miss.my grandmother always made chow chow .I’ve looked for a recipe that came close to hers ,she passed I never knew the recipe, but I do remember the ingredients. It was the best I’ve ever had .your recipe has the same as hers did .thank you for posting this .I’m excited to make it .
My husband loves ChowChow…I dont really care for it 🙁
I think what makes your recipes/website so special is the step by step pictures, just wondering if when you have a readers recipe, could you get pictures also.. I have found that I like to see the way the food looks when its finished..
Silly of me I guess!!
Thanks for all you do!
Marian in Mississippi 🙂
I agree with Marian from Tupelo on the pictured, but I love chow chow. Seems to be something of a guy thing, eh?
My favorite part of this is the picture. Reminds me of happy times at my gramma and grampa’s. Their glider was red and white. Many relaxing days spent there. 🙂
This glider was green and white. I loved to take a blanket and pillow and take a nap on it.
my maternal granparents gliders and chairs were green and I loved sitting on their poarch in that glider.. ah the memories..thanks for this- the chow-chow not so much my cup of tea…
My grandma also makes something very similar to this. We have always called hers homemade ketchup (even though its nothing like ketchup). It has tomatoes, peppers, onions, cabbage, and a few other things. We all love it with our pintos! I think the original recipe that she has written down, calls it tomato relish. I’m gonna have to dig it out now and look at it.
Great story! Grandma’s are the best!
I love chow chow and will certainly save this recipe for the end of garden season. I also love the picture and the glider. I would love to have one like that!
I love reading these stories,really takes me back.Thank you =)
We always called this end of the garden relish or some around here call it tail end relish. All of the names along the same vein and good eatin’.
What a coincidence! I was just talking about my grandma’s Chow Chow and wishing I had a recipe for it. I’m still holding out hope someone in the family has the ‘receep’, but for now this one soundswonderful! Thank YOU!
I’d love to try this, but how is “process in boiling water bath” done? Thanks
Afters the jars have been filled and the lids tightened, you submerge them in boiling water (enough to cover the tops) and boil the specified time. I have two canners….one is a pressure cooker and used mostly for vegetable. Relsihes, jams, and jellies can be done in the regular kettle used for the water bath.
I also have a full tutorial on how to do it if you’d like to see. Here is the link https://www.southernplate.com/2008/09/yes-you-can-can-canning-tutorial-with.html 🙂
Thanks Joyce Bacon and Christy! I came back here to see further posts after doing some research on the internet. The university food extensions are saying only the pressure method with vegetables because they are low acid, and tomatoes (some of those sites days tomatoes are okay without the pressure canner or cooker if you add acid). Too much for me as a novice, but I look forward to reading other people’s comments on how yummy it is. I just know it is and it sounds so fresh tasting! Maybe I will try cutting the recipe down for a much smaller batch to serve (and of course, eat!, right away). Thanks again!
The vinegar, salt, and sugar take care of the acidity situation..the same as pickles. I know the extension services recommed the pressure method, but the water bath has been used for more than a hundred years. If done properly there is no risk.
What a wonderful story! When I was a child, we ate chow-chow from the supermarket and I liked that. I’d forgotten all about it until this post. I will definitely have to try making this.
When I was growing up this was Piccalili and ChowChow was more of a green tomato realish. Really goood on leftover roast beef or bologna sandwiches. My dad grew and ground his own horseradish also. Canning started in spring with jams and fruit , relishes vegetables, applesauce and pie filling ending finally in the fall with squashes and pumpkin. I really miss the “jewel tones” in the fruit cellar, not to mention the gooood food.
I have this minus the red pepper sooooo good
This recipe needs to be refined. 12 green bell peppers can vary greatly in cups. They can be tennis ball sized up to softball sized. You should revise it to cups on both red and green peppers. I make this recipe a lot except cut the sugar by about 1/3.
It’s good stuff.
Thanks
YEP! Chow-Chow! My Granny used to make it every summer! I never got the recipe. :o( This sound very much like it though! Now if I just had her “corn relish” recipe to go with it!
Christy has a great corn relish recipe in her Southern Plate online cookbook.
I live in southern WV and was wondering what town Joyce’s grandma was from. I live in the coalfields along the WV/KY border. I actually can look out my back door and see the state of KY. The Tug River seperates the 2 states. The chow-chow sounds dilicious!
Grandma and Grandpa settled in Raleigh County. They lived at various times along Stonecoal Mountain in Killarney, Besoco and Lego. When Granpa left the coalmines, they moved to Green Valley where they spent their remaining years.
Can you reduce sugar? I’m a type 1 diabetic and grew up with chow chow that wasn’t real sweet, more heat. I crave good chow chow, but most I buy in stores are very sweet… Thanks.
what do you put it on , my mom made it but i didn’t eat it. now that i want to use it i don’t know what to use it on, any idea’s anyone?
KATHY
Katie, You can eat it on anything you take a fancy to. Pinto beans are probably what I’ve heard it used with most but you can just eat it by itself on saltine crackers if you want. There are no certain foods to have with it.
I’d like to mix it with cream cheese and make a dip with Ritz crackers or Triscuits just to see what it would be like.
now that sounds good! cream cheese and chow chow…will definitely try that one!
It would be great spooned on top of some softened cream cheese, and spread on some good crackers! Yum!
Chow Chow in beans , its delicious we ate it on sandwiches crackers put it on all kinds of meat , Ive even eaten it right out of the jar with a spoon,
by the way, i love your recipes , i copy each and every one you send me. plus! i was looking for old food that was cooked in the ga. ala. area.
KATHY
I am so glad you are encouraging younger generations to continue some of the old recipes and traditions. It would truly be a shame to let these ways die out with the old folk.
We always called that recipe end of the garden or tail end relish. All in the same vein and all delicious.
My paternal grandmother used to make chow-chow! I remember her digging through the old deep freeze in the shed with my aunt looking for veggies and saying, “It’s right there! Under the chow-chow!” I remember thinking, “Isn’t that pet food?” I don’t think I ever ate it. Relish was too tangy for my young taste buds, but I think about my grandmother every time I see chow-chow at a farmer’s market!
CHOW CHOW! Good stuff! There is a lady from my church that made it for us all the time but she is too advanced in years to do it anymore. Dad would love it!I need to do this and send her some. Thank you Joyce, I really appreciate it!
Today’s modern food processors have made this easy and quick to do. Chopping all the veggies when Granny made it, took up so much time.
My grandma used to make this also (she called it Cha Cha – must have been the dialect. She was born in Alabama but lived in KC, KS after she married. I got my love for canning from her. Her version was less sweet and also had banana peppers. We always came home with a couple of jars after our summer visit to last us through the winter. I make my own version without the cabbage but will definitely try this version with it. I like sweet. I grow my own tomatoes and peppers and go through the garden in Oct for the remnants to make mine. I have so many requests for it I usually have to get some green tomatoes from the farmers market to make another batch. We always ate it with chili but now I use it in many things – often in the place of pickle relish or salsa (on tacos, in potato salads and tartar sauce, hot dogs etc. My culinary inspiration comes from both my grandmothers who were very different in their upbringing and lives but great cooks in their own right. They knew how to bring a family together around a table.
We need more “bringing the family together around the dinner table”. When I was a kid, we usually had multi-generations at the table. We learned how to converse with adults; family history; current events….and LOTS of other “stuff”. Bring back the family dinners!!
This is a little off topic but related. When we were without power here in North Alabama after the tornados, in spite of all the bad stuff, it was wonderful to see how families spent quality time together. I enjoyed seeing people sitting under shade trees talking and eating the way I remember we did when I was a kid. I used to love sitting on a blanket under the big shade trees or on the porch with the grown-ups listening to the all the stories. I heard that one man said he was turning his power off once a month so his kids could come by and play games and visit the way they did last month but had not previously done in a while.
My Mother made almost the same thing and we called it mixed pickle. She didn’t put cabbage in hers probably because she didn’t have it in the garden. Everything was made from the odds and ends left in the garden. It was delicious and we liked ours with white beans. Sure it would be good with pintos also. Sometimes I cook a mixture of the two beans. Delicious!
My husband will Love this! Thank you so much for sharing your recipe and especially the story behind it. I know your heart is smiling each and every time you make this. I bet those granddaughter’s of yours will love to learn how to make this with you while hearing about their great, great grandma’s!
We make this kind of chow chow also. We use it in potato salad and in deviled eggs also and its really good.
can’t wait to try this one! i enjoy your recipes so much, and getting the old recipes is a joy! thank you and your kind contributors for sharing.:)
Thank you so much for the story of your Granny, it brought back memories of my precious Granny and all the wonderful stories she use to tell and all the canning she did. That generation really had it rough but from them come the greatest recipes. Can’t wait to try this recipe, as I have been searching every where for a good one, and this sounds like a winner. Thanks and Gods blessings to you.
My mama made chow chow every year. My dad loved it in his pintos! My mother would get us kids up every morning during the summer break at 6:30! She like to go to the garden and gather the veggies before it got so hot! We would gather whatever was ripe, and bring it under the big maple tree in our yard. We would wash it there, and if it happened to be beans, we would break them sitting in the shade of that maple tree! This recipe brought back such good memories of growing up in Tennessee!
My momma always has, and still does, make chow-chow in VA (I now live in southern AL, and no one knows about chow-chow here). But we always put it on green – turnip, kale, etc. I bring back jars when I make trips home!
I’m from Summersville, WV. We have chow chow all the time with a big ole pot of pinto beans and a skillet of cornbread. My mother-in-law also named Joyce used to make this every summer. This recipe sounds wonderful!