Chow-Chow
Courtesy of the Florida Memory Project
Maya Angelou’s grandmother operated a country store in Stamps, Arkansas. Angelou’s grandmother used a combination of store profits, bartering, subsistence farming, canning, and the preparation of nitty-gritty good-tasting food to survive the Great Depression with dignity. My Grandma Opie from Cloverdale Virginia kept a bottle of chow-chow on the shelf of her refrigerator door. Chow-chows or chutneys are sweet and spicy hot pickled and canned end of the season garden produce. They most made with green and red tomatoes but some contain okra, carrots, onions, cabbage, beets or more and of course you can make them with fruits to for a sweet and savory taste. Chow-chows are served with or on black-eyed peas or pinto beans, corn bread, and meats to spice up the meal.
Chow Chow Recipe
Ingredients
1 quart young, tiny cucumbers, not over two inches long
2 quarts very small white onions
2 quarts tender string beans, each one cut in halves
3 quarts of green tomatoes, sliced and chopped very coarsely
2 fresh heads of cauliflower, cut into small pieces, or two heads of white, hard cabbage.
Instructions
After preparing these articles, put them in a stone jar, mix them together, sprinkling salt between them sparingly. Let them stand twenty-four hours, then drain off all the brine that has accumulated. Now put these vegetables in a preserving kettle over the fire, sprinkling through them an ounce of turmeric for coloring, six red peppers, chopped coarsely, four tablespoonfuls of mustard seed, two of celery seed, two of whole allspice, two of whole cloves, a coffee cup of sugar, and two-thirds of a teacup of best ground mixed mustard. Pour on enough of the best cider vinegar to cover the whole well; cover tightly and simmer all well until it is cooked all through and seems tender, watching and stirring it often. Put in bottles or glass jars. It grows better as it grows older, especially if sealed when hot. (F.L. Gillette, The Whitehouse Cookbook (1887) )
