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Bottles of Green Tomato Chow Surrounded by Green Tomatoes

Green Tomato Chow

This Green Tomato Chow is a sweet yet slightly tangy condiment. Lovely served with many meals, it is superb served with fish cakes.

Course Condiment
Cuisine Canadian
Keyword chow, Green Tomato Chow
My Island Bistro Kitchen Barbara99

Ingredients

  • 3 lbs green tomatoes, chopped into chunks
  • 3¼ cups onions, chopped
  • 1 cup celery, sliced
  • ½ cup sweet red pepper, diced
  • Apx. 1 cup pickling salt
  • Combine all ingredients into a large bowl. Using the ratio of ½ cup pickling salt to 4 cups cold water, cover ingredients completely with salted water. Add as much salted water as necessary to cover the vegetables. For this amount of vegetables, you will likely need at least 1 cup pickling salt dissolved in 8 cups water. Make sure the pickling salt is thoroughly dissolved in the water before pouring over vegetables. Let vegetables soak at room temperature for 7-8 hours. Drain vegetables in large colander. Quickly rinse vegetables with cold water to remove any traces of salted water residue on vegetables. Let vegetables drain in colander for 1 to 1½ hours. Gently stir the vegetables periodically for better drainage.
  • 4 cups pickling vinegar
  • 3 cups brown sugar, lightly packed
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 1½ - 2 tbsp pickling spice tied into a small pickling spice sachet made with cheesecloth
  • ¼ tsp tumeric
  • ¼ tsp dry mustard

Instructions

  1. Combine vinegar, sugars, and spices into a large stockpot. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Add the drained vegetables and bring just to the boiling point. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook mixture, uncovered, slowly for 1 to 1½ hours, until vegetables are cooked, somewhat translucent, and mixture is slightly thickened. Stir periodically.

  2. While chow mixture is cooking, start the bottle sterilization process. Wash jars and lids in hot soapy water. Quickly wash the lids and do not let them stay in the hot dish water as, once heated enough to soften the rubber sealing compound and then cooled, they are no longer effective. Rinse jars and lids. (The lids will later be heated to soften the rubber sealing compound at the time of bottling.)

  3. Fill a large-sized pot about two-thirds full of hot tap water. Place the jars, upright, into the water. Ensure the jars are fully submerged, each jar filled with water, and that the water is at least an inch over the tops of the jars, adding more if necessary. Cover, bring to a boil, and boil gently for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to simmer and leave the jars in the hot water to have ready to fill once the chow is ready for bottling.

  4. Fill the canner a good half full of hot tap water. Cover and bring to a boil to have it ready for processing of the filled jars. Once it comes to a full boil, reduce heat to keep the water gently boiling.
  5. When the chow is ready to be bottled, use jar lifter tongs to carefully remove the hot sterilized jars from the water, one at a time, emptying the water from the jars back into the pot. Drain jars well.

  6. Remove a small amount of the hot water from the stockpot in which the jars were sterilized and place in small saucepan over simmering heat. Place the lids in the hot water for a few minutes to soften the rubber sealing compound. Do not boil the lids.

  7. Boil a kettle of water to have ready to top up water in the canner, if needed, once the filled jars are added.

  8. Remove and discard spice sachet from chow. Using a ladle, or a heat-proof glass measuring cup, and a wide-mouthed canning funnel, fill the hot sterilized jars with the chow, leaving about 1/2” headroom in each jar to allow for expansion during the hot water processing. Remove any trapped air bubbles in the jars with a chopstick or small heatproof spatula. Wipe the jar rims with a clean damp cloth to remove any stickiness that could prevent the lids from sealing properly to the jars.

  9. Using a magnetic lid lifter, remove lids from the hot water and center the heated lids on jars so the sealing compound on the lid edges aligns with the jar rims. Fingertip tighten the ring/screw bands until resistance is encountered. Do not over-tighten.

  10. Using jar lifter tongs, carefully place filled jars upright in the canner's wire basket positioned in the canner, ensuring jars do not touch each other or fall over. Ensure the water level is at least 1” above the tops of jars, adding more boiling water as necessary. Cover with canner lid. Increase the heat to return the water to a full rolling boil then decrease the heat to just keep the water at a moderately rolling boil but not boiling over. Process jars in the hot water bath for 10 minutes, adjusting time as and if necessary, for higher altitudes. Start timing the processing from the point at which a full rolling boil is reached after jars have been added to the canner. At the end of the processing time, turn off heat and remove canner lid.

  11. Let jars sit in the hot water for 5 minutes then, using jar lifter tongs, carefully remove the jars filled with chow, upright and one at a time, and transfer them to a heat-proof cutting board, that has been covered with a towel, to cool completely. Listen for the “pop” or “ping” sound as the bottles seal over the next few minutes or hours. The lids of properly sealed jars will curve downward. Let jars rest, undisturbed, on counter for 24 hours. Cover jars with towel to keep light out. Then, after 24 hours, test each jar for proper sealing by pressing down on the center of each jar lid. If the lid is already pressed downward, and does not pop back up, it is properly sealed. Any jars that do not pass this test should be refrigerated and the chow used within a week or so. Store properly sealed chow bottles in cool, dark place. Refrigerate chow once jar has been opened.

  12. For best flavor, let chow age for at least 2 weeks before serving.

Recipe Notes

Yield:  Apx. 6 – 7 half-pint jars. Exact yield will depend on how much the chow is cooked down.