P
American
Chow-Chow
A chunky, colourful relish of chopped green tomato, cabbage, onion, and bell pepper (green and red) in a sweet-sour mustard-vinegar brine with visible mustard seed, celery seed, and a yellow tinge from turmeric. The texture should be crisp — the vegetables should still have bite despite the cooking and the brine. The flavour should be sweet, tart, and mustardy simultaneously, with enough heat from the mustard to register but not enough to call it spicy.
‹Swipe for the next dish›
I
The Market List
The benchmark for each ingredient, and who stocks it near you. Tap a stockist to go straight to the product.
700 g
400 g
green cabbage
5 mm dice
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
300 g
onion
5 mm dice
Your own market
200 g
green bell pepper
5 mm dice
Your own market
200 g
red bell pepper
5 mm dice
Your own market
60 g
fine salt
for the overnight brine draw
Your own market
For the brine
500 ml
cider vinegar
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
300 g
white sugar
Your own market
2 tbsp
mustard seed
whole
Your own market
1 tsp
celery seed
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
1 tsp
ground turmeric
Your own market
1 tsp
dry mustard powder
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
Each tap is counted, so the stockist sees the demand Provenance sends them.
II
The Method
1
Dice all vegetables to a uniform 5 mm. Combine in a large non-reactive bowl, toss thoroughly with the salt, and leave uncovered for 4–8 hours or overnight at room temperature. The salt draws out the excess moisture and firms the cell walls. At the end of the salting period, drain the vegetables in a colander, rinse briefly under cold water, and press firmly to expel as much liquid as possible — the drained mass should feel almost dry to the hand.
2
Sterilise the jars and lids in a boiling-water bath while the vegetables drain. Hold them submerged and hot until needed.
3
Combine the cider vinegar, sugar, mustard seed, celery seed, turmeric, and mustard powder in a large stainless or enamelled pot. Bring to a full boil over medium-high heat, stirring until the sugar is dissolved and the brine runs clear and deeply yellow.
4
Add the drained vegetables to the boiling brine. Stir to coat every piece. Cook at a steady simmer for 10–15 minutes — this is where the dish lives or dies: the vegetables must heat through completely and absorb the mustard-turmeric flavour without sacrificing their structure. At 10 minutes, press a piece of green tomato between thumb and finger; it should yield with resistance and spring back slightly, not collapse. Pull from the heat the moment that crispness is confirmed.
5
Pack the hot relish immediately into the hot sterilised jars, pressing down to eliminate air pockets and leaving 1 cm headspace. Wipe the rims clean, seal, and process in a boiling-water bath for 10 minutes. Remove and leave undisturbed on a rack; the jars will ping as the lids seal. Any jar that does not seal must be refrigerated and used within two weeks.
III
Quality Hierarchy
01
Reserve — End-of-season green tomatoes from a named heirloom variety (Cherokee Purple or Brandywine taken fully green), home-garden cabbage, and raw unfiltered cider vinegar from a local press. The relish becomes a document of a specific garden and a specific year.
02
Estate — Farmers' market green tomatoes and mixed peppers of varying colours bought in late summer surplus, combined with a good commercial raw cider vinegar. Colour and flavour are vivid; the batch has provenance.
03
Market — Supermarket green tomatoes, cabbage, and bell peppers with a reliable filtered cider vinegar. Honest and correct; the standard of most family recipes.
04
House — Whatever the garden or the crisper drawer holds at season's end — the founding premise of the relish. Proportions shift by necessity. The result is still chow-chow.
IV
Sensory Tests
◇Touch. After the overnight salt, the drained vegetables feel almost dry under firm hand pressure — no pooling liquid when pressed.
◇Sight. The brine runs clear and uniformly deep yellow before the vegetables are added — the sugar is fully dissolved.
◇Touch. At 10 minutes in the brine, a piece of green tomato pressed between thumb and finger yields with resistance and springs back; it does not collapse or feel mushy.
◇Sound. Each sealed jar emits a sharp metallic ping as it cools on the rack, confirming a vacuum seal.
◇Where it lives or dies. The dish lives or dies in the 10-to-15-minute cook: pull too early and the raw edge remains; hold too long and the crispness — chow-chow's entire reason for existing — is gone.
Pillar V
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VI
What to Pour
The pairing
Fortified wine
From British Columbia
Nothing from British Columbia holds against this yet.
Without alcohol
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The whole pairingPillar VII
Origin and lineage are part of membership.
Where the dish comes from and how it came to be — on every recipe.
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