Marlene Snader, a friend from church, gave me two huge zucchini’s out of her greenhouse along with this recipe for chow chow. I had never made chow chow before, but was immediately intrigued. A canned vegetable mixture! What a great way to use up a lot of various produce, plus store vegetables without using precious freezer space!
I made a double batch, and in the middle of chopping all those vegetables, thought, I sure hope we like this stuff!
One jar didn’t seal, so I stuck it in the fridge and Andy and I tried it that night after the children were in bed. Good stuff! We could hardly stop eating it!
My favorite thing about this recipe is that you can basically use any vegetable mixture you want. Got a little of this and that? Green beans? Summer squash? Carrots? Throw it together for chow chow. The recipe calls for about 26-28 cups of chopped vegetables, but you could use any vegetables you have. I have a lot of cauliflower and carrots, so I’ll be using the brine and canning those this week.
The best part is that you eat it cold – no cooking a vegetable last minute if you forgot one for your meal, just pull a jar of chow chow out of your pantry!
Zucchini Chow Chow
4 quarts zucchini, chopped
3 cups carrots, chopped and cooked until slightly soft
1 cup onions, chopped
1/2 cup celery, chopped
4 peppers, chopped
6 cups cauliflower, chopped
Water
1/2 cup salt
Brine
5 cups sugar
1 1/2 t turmeric
1 1/2 t celery seed
1 t garlic salt
2 cups vinegar
Chop all the vegetables in chunks. Put salt on top, and cover with water. Let soak in salt water for 3 hours. Drain.
Combine all the brine ingredients and bring to a boil. Boil 5 minutes, then add the vegetables and cook 10 more minutes.
Put in quart jars and water bath 10 minutes.