Do you like chow chow?

[LaLa]

I can not eat soup beans without Chow Chow. Do you like it? What else do you eat it on?

[jtboyd]

Being from the Chow Chow Capital of the Universe (Tennessee) the two best commercially available brands are Tennessee Chow Chow, and Brother's. Both are available by mail order, Brothers ships gift boxes.

http://www.brothersfinefoods.com/esto...

[roro1831]

This was the ingredient list on the chow chow I grew up with in New Orleans, it was made by Zatarain's:

Zatarain's Chow Chow contained water, pickle relish (cucumbers, vinegar, salt, alum, turmeric, sodium benzoate preservative), vinegar, yellow mustard seed, salt, turmeric, propylene glycol, soybean oil, and yellow No. 5 (color). The relish was not a sweet relish but more dilled.

[dberg1313]

The Historical society I belong to has a Christmas Market and we sell all kinds of baked goods, canned stuff, pickles, relish, sauerkraut, pickled beets, you name it - and the chowchow sells out every. single. time. Even in the quart jars! This the PA German variety BTW. I cannot for the life of me imagine consuming an entire quart of chowchow EVER but obviously some people do. Maybe they make it last an entire year.

[LaLa]

We go through a quart in about 2 1/2 months.

[im_nomad]

yes, yes...I do, do

:)

Actually i love it on fish cakes.

[msdebsm]

James Herriot ("All Creatures Great and Small') had a funny tale of overkill by chow-chow and hog lard---but I really love choe-chow with many meats.

[DeppityDawg]

Oh… thanks for posting this. In ACGS the condiment was piccallili, which must be similar to chow chow. I had no idea what you all were talking about here! I grew up in the South and never heard of chow chow. Strange!

[Kajikit]

I had some Amish chowchow a few months ago and it took me right back to my childhood when my grandma (from South Africa) would make piccallili to put on sandwiches. I'm saving glass jars so I can make some up myself... chutney and pickles are sooooo good!

[porker]

I don't have a great taste for it, but a short story;
My mom would make chow chow in the fall when tomatoes are dirt cheap. She'd buy a bushel of red and a half bushel of green tomatoes for both red and green chow chow. The house would fill with the aromas for days as she cooked and canned.
To this day, the smell of cooking pickling spices bring me back...

[LaLa]

Interesting...I have never had any with tomatoes in it.What area is that from?

[Potomac Bob]

I have seen literally hundreds of recipes for Chow Chow, mostly from the South, and all they seem to have in common is that they are a relish made from chopped vegetables and pickled. Green tomatoes and cabbage seem to be the most common predominant ingredients, but many recipes don't have both and some don't have either. Marion Cunningham, in The Supper Book (1992) said Chow Chow was "originally a Chinese sweetmeat made of orange peel, ginger, and other spices preserved in a thick syrup. Today chow chow is defined as any mixed vegetable pickle flavored with mustard or mustard seed. Chow chow has a flamboyant flavor that lights up roast chicken and lamb."

[alkapal]

seems like an odd transition, from strong aromatics in sugary syrup to a pickled chopped vegetable condiment.

and when cunningham says "original", what date is that, if you know? was it associated with the big chinese immigration period? the description of the "original" sounds like a chutney.

[porker]

This is southern Quebec. Some people call it chow chow, others here call it 'homemade ketchup' and others even call it 'homemade relish'. No matter what an individual calls it, we know what we mean...
Said like that (all three), its understood that its red.

To specify the same item, but made with green tomatoes, one would say "green chow chow' or 'green homemade ketchup' or 'green homemade relish'.

The closest commercial item (to the red), I think, would be Heinz Chili sauce. Similar, but again, quite different.

[LaLa]

I usually eat the cabbage one...it is very coarse not like a ketchup in the South.

[choctastic]

I had it on pasties from Michigan. I liked the chow chow better than the pasties, by far. I could see myself putting it on all sorts of stuff, like a hot dog.

[SoulFoodie]

I love chow chow. I eat it on beans, greens, and corn bread.

[alkapal]

hot dogs! tuna salad, egg salad, ham sandwich, deviled eggs, pita bread with hummus.

[danhole]

The only chow chow I am familiar with is from a place called Antone's Po Boys in Houston. It is orange, made with cabbage, I think, and it is so good that I get a jar when I go. I especially like it on a turkey sandwich, and I agree with the cured meats! Is chow chow normally orange?

[ChrisOC]

Pennsylvania Dutch ChowChow is is a pickeled vegetable relish, with corn beans, chopped peppers etc. You can order it online from the Kitchen Kettle Village, in PA

[aelph]

I love that you mention Antone's!

They're not as good as they used to be, but then what is?

The secret ingredient in an Antone's Original is chow-chow which is why I keep a bottle on hand(I'm a Texan at heart, but live in the North) for whenever the mood strikes.

Long live Antone's!

[danhole]

When was the last time you ate at Antone's? They have made some changes, for the better, by offering more condiments (for free) like olives, lettuce, etc. You can also get them toasted, which make the original even better than before. Our Antone's down the street is excellent.

[scape]

I am a native Houstonian now living in New England. I have ordered and had them ship to me from the FM1960 store which I'm not even sure is there anymore. It is always a pain becasue they are not really in the food shipping business and they treat me like I'm a pain in the a**.

If you indeed have a jar in your pantry, I sure would like the list of ingredients from the label. If you have this, I will recreate this to near exactness in a home quantity recipe and post it up here.

I could shoot myself for not jotting it down last time I had some myself. I appreciate any help you can give.

[danhole]

I am out of Antone's chow chow right now, but I found this link that has a list of ingredients:

http://www.roadfood.com/Forums/topic....

It's at the bottom of the thread.

I have an Antone's down the street, and I will double check the ingredient list for you.

[Pampatz]

Just read through this thread this morning. My dad's office was on Allen Parkway when I was a child. He would take us to the original Antone's for lunch sometimes. I was the oldest, so I was allowed to have the red wrap. Loved that spicy orange chow chow. Hot, hot summertime with a cold po-boy and a grapette. Yummy.
Does Antone's still make the loaves of bread shaped like alligators and turtles? Just another childhood memory.

[danhole]

Got me there Pampatz! I have never seen alligator or turtle shaped bread there, but then again I would never think to look for it! LOL!

[Lovetroll]

Found this thread through a google search. However, in my cyberspace travels today I also found that Spec's sells it online. It's listed as Antone's Chow Chow:

http://www.specsonline.com/cgi-bin/sn...

[ChrisOC]

I am always on the lookout for a jar of good Pennsylvania Dutch chowchow

[Passadumkeg]

Try Wos Wit Chow Chow from Wild Grouse Farms in Tamaqua, Pa. Excellent apple butter too.

[lisavf]

The Wos Wit brand is very authentic. I live just a few miles from Tamaqua.

[Passadumkeg]

I love all their products, have cases of 'em in the cellar. Caught my first trout in their stream and milked my first cow at 5 yrs. at the farm. Pretty authentic Pennsylvania Dutch stuff, especially for a family named Secovich!

[lynnlato]

My mom used to keep stockpiles of the stuff in her canning cupboard in our basement in PA. As a child, I was not a fan. My mom passed away many years ago and after college I moved South to NC. I was at a local festival and saw an older couple selling jars of chowchow. It reminded me of my mom and I wanted to give it another try - with my "grown-up" taste buds. But alas, I did not care for it at all - too sweet, which I don't recall my mother's chowchow being overly sweet. Perhaps it's a southern thing?

[texaschowchow]

I like it so much I named myself after it!

[nancymcm]

I am looking for a relish called chow chow that used to be available at
Panzer's in the Lexington St. Market Baltimore, Md. It was not made with
tomatoes, but with cabbage, bits of red pepper, vinegar, sugar...it was yellow.
Haven't seen it in years but was delicious! Great on fried tripe and hot dogs
Anyone know where it may still be found?

[PANative]

papantry.com has the original chow chow and also what I think you are describing except they call it Dutch Sweet Relish

[Ollie3]

Hey Nancy: Did you ever find anything like the Panzer Chow Chow

[currymouth]

I eat it on ham ,as well as other cured meats. Great on smoked meat and pastrami sandwiches, also add to tuna fish salad and deviled eggs.