Chow-Chow is a condiment



     This is how I make Chow-Chow.  Chow-Chow is a condiment, used with collard greens, spinach, or beans.  Some people like me even put it on a Ritz.  Which reminds me Hot Pepper Jelly, on a cracker is good too, but that is another story.  In the South, we love our greens.  We don't just have Turnips, we eat the leaves.  There is also Poke-Salad which is a weed that grow along side the road.  Now that green dish will make you sick if you don't make it right.  Today people call it Soul Food.  I remember when we got ham bones for almost nothing.  Fat back, was some thing my Grandmother fried strips of and put in green beans.  I would get a piece and chew on it.  Lard sat in the refrigerator, beside butter that had a design pressed into it.  Eggs had dirt on them, brown colored, and even spots.  I really thought it was cool when an egg had two yokes.  There was all kinds of milk.  Goats milk, cows milk, store bought milk, and butter milk.  We ate vegetables, a lot of the time, chicken was on Sunday.  There was a basket on the stove, biscuits wrapped in a dish towel.  Well, a lot of that has changed.  For one thing, high-blood pressure changed the way we eat.  Lard is what made fried chicken so good.  It, is out of the kitchen, along with that cake of real butter.  No 2% here, but even the butter milk is store bought now.  

       

     I still like to have a garden, and it not only helps with the budget, but it is better food.  Today, these greens are not only cooked, but make great salads.  We are not in the reconstruction South, nor are we in the aftermath of the great depression.  We eat these, because they are good food.  They are good for us.  Collards for instance have a hardy meaty taste.  The Swiss Chard, Mustard Greens, India, and Spinach, can all be cooked together for a wonderful flavor.  Just like putting mustard on french-fries, we have ways of eating greens.  

      One of my all time, must have, is sweet Videllia Onion.  This onion is grown in Videllia Georgia, and you can eat it like an apple.  I prefer it chopped in chunks and sprinkled thickly over beans or greens.  I have never met an onion that I didn't like.  Ever since I was old enough, I have been cutting up onions for Mom.  The big purple ones, or the big yellow onions will put a tear even in my eye.  Did you know if you keep a tooth-pick in you mouth, you won't cry.  Spring onions, you chop the green stems up they are the chives.  It's all good.  

     Fat back; that is a good thing to go with your greens, or beans.  Cut it into strips.  It adds a real good pork flavor.  What we do most of the time, is cut about an inch off the bacon.  The package of bacon, or we call it a slab of bacon.  Doesn't come in a slab any more, but we still call it that.  Another way is buying family packs of pork chops and use the extra in your greens.

     Some where down the line, some one figured out to put cayenne peppers in apple cider vinegar.  I am so glad they did because I love them.  Then we started putting Tabasco peppers, Jalapeno peppers, garlic, even boiled eggs in the vinegar.

    

     These are just like ketchup on a hot dog, or peanuts in a coke.  Condiments for Southern Cooking

Chow-Chow is the best of these. 

     You take these peppers, all of these peppers, and cut up.  Removing the seeds, before chopping in a food processor, or small chopper like mine.  We added some colored bell peppers, but if cost is a factor green bell peppers are fine.  We did cut a side off each bell pepper to put aside to make potato salad with later. 

     As we chop the peppers up, put them in a large pot for cooking.  At this point we have chopped up 5 med garlics, 3 large colored bell peppers, 1 red, 1 yellow, and 1 orange.  I used about 20 or more large cayenne peppers, 15 med. to large jalapeno peppers, 3 large banana peppers, and about 20 Tabasco peppers.  Scrapping the veins and seeds out.  I had about 1/4 a head of cauliflower, and a few carrots from the garden for added color.

     Now the main ingredient is the cabbage.  We cut the whole cabbage up and grind it in with the rest.  Once the cabbage is added, put 1 cup of sugar, and 2 cups of apple cider vinegar.  Cook on top of the stove stirring often.

 

     After cooking until thicken, put jars and lids in another pot for heating.  This is my way of making Chow-Chow.  I'm sure there are many other ways to make chow-chow.  I am sure of one thing, you do not want to rub your eyes with your hands for several days.  Soap and water will not get rid of the fire.  If you have arthritis, mix crushed up peppers especially the Tabasco peppers, and cayenne, with olive oil.  This home made remedy works, just be careful around private areas when going to bathroom.