Cooking Corner - Chow-Chow and Pintos

Written By: Ellen Kleven  |  Posted: Monday, November 14th, 2011

             As the harvest winds down and the last of this season's produce is saved from the biting frost, so the work of processing all of the produce begins to subside. It's really an enjoyable season, and making use of all of the produce readily available and storing it up for the long winter months leaves me with a deep satisfaction and gratefulness to our good God.  I recently spent some time with my mother and we put away many, many jars of applesauce after which we worked on canning a family favorite relish, passed down from my grandmother, called "chow-chow".  This relish serves one main purpose in my family, which is to accompany a simple Southern meal of pinto beans and cornbread.

             Chow-chow is a perfect end-of-season canning project since green tomatoes are one of the ingredients, and there are often an abundance of these if the tomato plants did well.  The other ingredients are typically still around toward the end of harvest too, and if their season is past, they are fairly inexpensive even at the local grocery store. The preparation for chow-chow is simple, the cost is low, and it is such a good addition to that simple and healthy meal we ate so often.

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