If you haven't tried Chow Chow, I highly recommend it! It is a relish dish with a history that can be traced to both Pennsylvania Dutch and Southern traditions. Recipes vary widely but mostly focus on the use or preservation of late summer produce. Typically, recipes call for tomatoes, peppers, onions and cabbage; other vegetables can be added such as carrots, cauliflower, peas, and beans.
A few years ago, I came into possession of a small notebook kept by my ancestor, J. Ambrose Mies which included sundry every-day notes as well as a recipe for Chow Chow. The notebook can be dated with entries between 1872 and 1873. Incredibly this small, fragile collection of random notes survived over 150 years. J. Ambrose Mies wrote down two recipes, including the below for Chow Chow, among the records of favorite bible verses and a ledger of work completed.
J. Ambrose Mies was born 24 October 1849 in Hanover Township, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania. He was the son of Gottlieb Mies and Catharine Kunkel. At the time he wrote the notebook and recorded the Chow Chow recipe, Ambrose was between 22 to 24 years old living near Nazareth, Pennsylvania. Later, in 1877, Ambrose married Eliza Ann Kunstman who was the daughter of Civil War Photographer William Kunstman and his wife Sabina Beck. Ambrose and Eliza relocated to Bethlehem where Ambrose worked as a mail carrier.
Since discovering the recipe, I have been interested in making it and perhaps finding out why my ancestor Ambrose Mies found it noteworthy. With excess tomatoes from the garden this week, it seemed like a great opportunity to give it a try. I started with some research on similar Chow Chow recipes and found that it was most similar to this Southern Chow Chow recipe. With this comparison, I was better able to judge ratios of ingredients compared to the original, below:
Transcription:
Chow-chow (Mrs Meyer’s receipt)
Take equal quantities of tomatoes
and cabbage, and chop them
with some mangoes. Then to
five quart of this mixture
take one quart of chopped
onions, salt them well and
let them stand an hour
or two, then squeeze it out
of the salt nature and put
it in weak vinegar another
hour, then squeeze it out
again and add back mus-
tard, yellow mustard, and celery
seed. then take as much
vinegar as is required make
it boiling hot and pour it
over.
John A. Mies
Ingredients:
For this experiment, I cut the original recipe quantities in half in order to get close to the ratios in the recipe found online. The original recipe doesn't specify what type of tomatoes or peppers, for this recipe I used red tomatoes and green peppers in order to create a traditional color contrast. I also separated some of the mixture and added jalapeno peppers for a spicy version. Note, mangoes are and old term for bell peppers.
Equal quantities chopped tomatoes, peppers & cabbage:
5 quarts - 20 Cups = 2.5 quarts -10 cups total
Onions:
1 quart - 4 cups = 5. quart - 2 cups total
/ .5 Cup Course Salt (Substituted Pickling Salt)
/ 2 tbsp mustard seed
/ 1 tbsp celery seed
4/ cups white vinegar
2/ cups water
Some recipes call for granulated white sugar, the original recipe did not call for this so I omitted from this attempt.
Modified Instructions:
Chop vegetables finely. Place the chopped vegetables in a porcelain or glass container and sprinkle with the salt. Cover and let them stand overnight (different than original recipe, which is for two hours)
Place the vegetables in a large colander and rinse very well under cold running water. Divide into smaller batches if necessary.
Soak vegetables in a weak vinegar bath and drain/rinse again
Drain thoroughly and place in a large stockpot. Combine remaining ingredients and pour over chopped vegetables. Heat to boiling and then boil for 4 minutes.
Ladle into clean pint jars that have been sterilized in boiling water. Seal with sterilized lids according to manufacturer instructions. Process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes.
The result - an original Chow Chow!
I will take a sample to the upcoming 75th Miller Family Reunion where we have have the descendants of J. Ambrose Mies do a taste test.
Commentaires