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Today we learned to can Chow-Chow. This is a three-day process. Wayne Riley, the Director of Grow Appalachia in Laurel Co. and the (LCAAHC) had his sister, Joyce Carson come to the center, our main office to teach his niece Teea (Leatha) Fullen, and myself how to make this long time family recipe. This recipe will make about 20 pints.

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On Wednesday we got all of our fresh vegetables out of the garden.

  • Cabbage
  • Green Tomato’s
  • Onion’s
  • Cayenne Pepper’s
  • Jalpena Pepper’s
  • Hot Chilli Pepper’s
  • Hot Banana Pepper’s
  • Carrot’s
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The first thing to do is; wash all these items in cold water,and drain. Chop 3 medium-to-large heads of cabbage, 15 medium green tomatoes, 4 large onions, 4 cayenne peppers, 6 jalpena peppers, 4 hot chilli peppers, 5 hot banana peppers, and 10 carrots. Now get out the food processor,  and start grinding the veggies up. You want them fine, but NOT liquidy. with the exception of the tomato’s. they will be a bit runny, make sure the are small chunks and NOT complete liquid. Now put all your vegetables in a large pot and mix them by hand until everything is mixed together well. We are now ready to transfer all of this to a pillow case. Tie it up, hang it in a dry place and let drain for 3 days.

On the 3rd. day, take it down. Dump everything back into a large pot. Put on stove top,  Stir in 1 gallon of Apple Cider vinegar, and 4 lbs. of Sugar on high heat until it starts to boil, reduce heat to medium.  Cook for about 45 minutes, Stirring occasionally so that it does not stick or scorch. While the Chow-Chow is cooking, you can be sterilizing your jars, and lids. Heat water for water-bath canning to seal the jars. When done fill your jars, place them in boiling water-bath for 10 minutes. Remove, cool, and store, until ready to eat.

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I really enjoyed learning to make Chow-Chow. Just having Mrs. Joyce there to mentor us though it was amazing. She is a very knowledgable Lady. I hope to learn lots more from her in the future.

Oh….and let me mention that while canning the chow-chow today. Mr. Wayne Riley cooked us some Chicken, smothered in fresh corn, and potato’s with the Tomatillo Salsa we made last week. With fresh beans, mac-n-cheese, and dinner rolls. This was very tasty!

🙂