chow-chow

The tradition & historical record

Chow-chow (also spelled chowchow or chow chow) is a pickled dish popular in North America whose origins are unclear. Some suggest an origin in the American South, while other sources suggest it originated in Canada and was brought south by the Acadians who migrated to the American South after being expelled from the Maritimes in the mid-1700s; another theory is that it originated from Chinese railway workers. ¹

Made primarily of chopped green tomatoes, onions, cabbage, and seasonal peppers (though carrots, cauliflower, beans, and peas are sometimes included), chow-chow is a pickled relish eaten by itself or as a condiment on fish cakes, mashed potatoes, biscuits and gravy, pinto beans, hot dogs, hamburgers and other foods. ¹

An early 20th-century American recipe for chow chow was made with cucumbers, onions, cauliflower and green peppers left overnight in brine, boiled in (cider) vinegar with whole mustard seed and celery seeds, then mashed into a paste with mustard, flour and turmeric. ¹

Its ingredients vary considerably, depending on whether it is the "Northern" (primarily Pennsylvanian) or "Southern" variety, as well as separate Canadian variety, prevalent in the Maritimes where it is called "chow." The former is made from a combination of vegetables, mainly green and red tomatoes, onions, carrots, beans of various types, asparagus, cauliflower and peas. The latter is entirely or almost entirely green tomatoes or cabbage. These ingredients are pickled in a canning jar. After preserving, chow-chow is served cold, often as a condiment or relish. ¹

The text above is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Chow-chow (food)”, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence. ¹

chow-chow is North American pickled relish, according to the structured record cited below. This entry was generated automatically from that record and has not yet been reviewed by a person familiar with the tradition. ²

The source record links this tradition to 3 external registers, which can be verified through the citation. ²