CHOW CHOW

Makes 2½ quarts

Chow Chow is a pickled relish

• 2 qts. chopped cabbage
• 1 qt. chopped green tomatoes
• 6 large onions, chopped
• 3 sweet red peppers, chopped
• 4 tablespoons dry mustard
• 3 tblsp. white mustard seed
• 1½ tablespoons celery seed
• ½ tablespoon ginger
• vinegar to cover (about 8 cups)
• 1 tablespoon cloves
• 2 lbs. sugar
• salt

Place each kind of vegetable into a separate bowl.  Sprinkle a small amount of salt over each vegetable, and let stand 4 hours. 
Press juice from each vegetable and combine. 
Mix the dry ingredients, and rub into a paste by using a small amount of vinegar. 
Add all the vinegar and bring to a boil. 
Put in the vegetables and cook slowly for 20 minutes. 
Pack in sterile jars and seal. Cover jars with boiling water and process for 10-15 min.

CORN RELISH

Makes 8 pints

• 9 ears of sweet corn
• 1 qt. vinegar
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1½ tblsps. dry mustard
• 1 tsp. turmeric
• 1 medium head of cabbage, chopped
• 2 medium onions, chopped
• 3 red peppers, chopped
• 2 green peppers, chopped
  
• Note: use any combination of colors for your peppers. I like the colorful frying and mini peppers.

Cook corn in boiling water for 2 minutes. Dip in cold water and cut grains from the cob. 
Chop the cabbage, onion and peppers into small pieces and add to corn. 
In a large pot, mix vinegar, sugar, salt and spices and heat to boiling. 
Add the corn and vegetables and boil for 20-30 minutes, until vegetables become tender (stir frequently). 
Pour corn relish into sterile jars and process.

SPICED GOOSEBERRIES

Makes about 5 pints.
Approx. 1 lb of berries go into a pint.

After finally tasting fresh gooseberries, i decided to try and grow them myself for jams and condiments.

• 5 lbs. ripe gooseberries
• 4 lbs. brown sugar
• 2 cups vinegar (I use apple cider vinegar for this recipe)
• 2 tblsps. cloves
• 3 tsps. cinnamon
• 3 tsps. allspice

Combine gooseberries with spices, sugar, and vinegar, and cook slowly until the mixture becomes pretty  thick. 
Pour the gooseberries into sterilized jars and process in the water bath.

PICKLED PEARS

• 14 pounds pears (Sekel is good for whole pears)
• 1 quart cider vinegar
• 6 pounds sugar
• 1 teaspoon whole cloves
• 1 teaspoon stick cinnamon, broken in pieces

Slice and remove the core, or you can choose to pickle them whole  
Peel the pears. Place spices in a small cheesecloth bag and add to the vinegar and sugar.  
Bring mixture to a boil, then add pears and cook until tender. 
The pears will take on a clear appearance when they become tender. 
Remove them with a spoon and place them into sterilized jars. 
Boil the syrup until it thickens.  
Finally pour the syrup over the pears, seal and process.

PICKLED RED BEETS

• 3 lbs. beets
• 1 stick cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon whole allspice
• ½ cup sugar
• 6 whole cloves
• 1 pt. vinegar
• ½ cup water

  Boil the brine and beets until partially softened. Peel off the skin and slice. Add beets to a sterilized jar, pour brine over them, seal and process for 10 min.

  *Note: I've sliced or diced the beets, and for a quicker method, I used Mrs. Wage's Bread and Butter Pickling Mix rather than all of the individual spices listed, I added a piece of cinnamon stick, a star anise and a few cloves to each jar.

GINGER PEARS

This recipe makes 5 pints
Uses an average of 1 lb. of sliced pears per pint.

• 5 lbs. hard pears
• 3 cups water
• 5 lbs. sugar
• ½ cup chopped, preserved ginger
• 3 lemons, juice and grated rind

Pare and core the pears. Dice or cut into thin slices. Add water and cook pears until tender. 
Add the sugar, ginger, lemon juice and grated rind. 
Let the mixture simmer  until thick and the pears become transparent. 
Pour pears into sterilized jars, process in canner.

SWEET PEPPER RELISH

This is a great recipe for preserving those pretty little mini-peppers of mixed colors and the long Italian multi-colored sweet frying peppers growing in my garden. I double the amount of total peppers mentioned if i'm using the minis. So that's approximately 24 mini peppers in a variety of colors, rather than the 12 and 12 of regular sized peppers. I use a few little pearl onions for each jar, cut in half. 
I also add a clove of garlic to each jar.

• 12 sweet red peppers
• 12 sweet green peppers
• 8 small onions
• 1 qt. vinegar
• 1½ cups sugar
• 2 tsp. salt

Seed the peppers and chop fine with the onion. 
Place in a bowl and cover with boiling water.  Let stand for 5 minutes. 
Drain and cover again with boiling water, let stand for 10 minutes longer. 
Place in colander or cheesecloth bag let drain over night. 
In the morning add the vinegar, sugar and salt. Boil for 20 min, then place in hot sterilized jars , add the seal, and process for 10 min.

AMISH CUCUMBER PICKLES

• 24 cucumbers
• 1 quart onions
• 1 cup of salt
• 1 cup olive oil
• 1/4 pound ground mustard
• 3 tablespoon black pepper
• 3 pints apple cider vinegar

Peel the skins off the cucumbers. Don't discard peels.
 Slice cucumbers very thin, then add the peels and sliced onions and cover with the salt. Let stand overnight. 
Drain well and then add the olive oil, pepper, mustard and the vinegar, stirring slowly.  
Pour the mixture into air-tight jars.  
Let stand for 6 weeks
*boil the liquids with the spices and pour the brine over the pickles in sterile jars, after standing overnight.  
Process in water bath canner for 10 min. for a shorter period of pickling time, avoidance of bacteria, a secure seal and longer-term storage.

Sources:
1915 - Mary at the Farm and Book of Recipes
   Compiled during Her Visit among the "Pennsylvania Germans"
1960's Pennsylvania Dutch Cooking Book
Pennsylvania Dutch Cook Book of Fine Old Recipes