The Amish Cook from Oasis Newsfeatures

We make it every year. Chow chow is my "Green tomato ketchup". Eat it with white beans! Yum yum

The explaination that it is from the French chou, pronouced like shoe, sure makes more sence than the etymology that says it came from the Chinese on the west coast in the 1700's meaning food; particularly a chutney-like dish of pickled ginger. (KJunebug there were references to Chinese and dog meat, too. Ugh!)

Chou to 'chow' probably isn't any more strange than Deutsch becoming 'dutch'.  Pennsylvania Dutch is how my mother was introduced to chow chow.  She and my father would have discussions because he would say it wasn't chow chow; it was piccalilly (the British term for the same or similar dish) and that chow chow was something else entirely.

This is the way I read it:

1) Set your canner on the stove with water in it about half way up and bring to a boil. You will probably need another kettle of boiling water ready to pour over the vegetables to blanche them and for the jars in the canner when needed, so this needs to be started also. Wash 20 quart jars and screw lids or about 40 pint jars and lids and set aside.

2) Place your tomatoes, cabbage, onions, and peppers (all ground) into a very large pot . Place the salt on top of this, mix it a bit, pour enough boiling water on top of this to cover all the vegetables, place the lid on, and allow to "blanche" or partially cook to kill the bacteria, for 10 minutes.  Replenish water in second kettle / pot for use in canner.  

3) Into a smaller pot add the vinegar, sugar, celery seed, mustard seed,  ground cloves, dry mustard, and ground ginger. Stir well. Place on the stove and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Keep at a simmer until needed.

4)   Start another small pot of water on to boil to place the jar lids in. Bring these to a boil and then keep them at a low simmer. 

5) Stir the blanched vegetables well,  drain all in a VERY large collander, and rinse with cold water for 1-2 minutes. Drain until the majority of the water is gone. This mix can now be placed into the clean canning jars, pints or quarts (try not to mix the jar sizes). Fill them to the top of the base of the jar, not to the top rim of the jar. This is about 1 inch headspace. (This is the cold pack step. If it were hot pack, the jars would have needed to been washed and sterilized in boiling water before the vegetable mix was put in)

6) Pour the liquid (vinegar and spices) over the vegetables in the jars, covering the mix, but again, not to the top lip. Wipe the tops of the jars clean and place the hot canning lids and then rings on top of the jars, sealing tightly, but not over-tightly. Place these jars in a canner, cover with water to 1 to 1 1/2 inches over the jar tops and bring to a rolling boil; cook for 10 minutes with the canner lid on. At the end of this time, turn off the heat, and remove the jars from the canner with a jar lifter and place on a towel on a counter to cool completely. You will hear a popping noise as the jars cool. This are the lids sealing. Continue until all of the jars have been cooked. Check each jar after all are completely cooled to make sure the lids have sealed; they will be recessed on top. If bowed upwards, set aside and set in the refrigerator for immediate use. If there are too many this way, they will need to be reprocessed in the water bath, sometimes needing new lids. Also when completely cooled, you may tighten the rings of the jars, but not too tight--this has been known to break the seal of the lid, causing spoilage when the air leaks in.  

Amazing what can be read between the lines of a recipe! The next time you go to the store a buy a jar of something preserved, you can now realize how much time it took to prepare and all the steps involved.

I have not made Elizabeth's recipe, but I helped my mom for years and years when she made hers. If someone would like to meld and try the ingredients and my steps, I'd love to know how it turns out.

At first glance, (title) I thought you were telling on your poochie again!