My grandparents always made sauerkraut in a crock. My Dad wouldn't eat lunch at school so he could save his lunch money to go to the movies on Sat. He told me when he got home from school he was starving and he would go down to the basement and dip his hand in the crock and eat the sauerkraut. Such a precious memory. He also ate raw potatoes and when I cooked potatoes for him I would give him a couple pieces raw potato with salt. He would smile so big when I brought it to him. He loved a raw potato until he passed away at age 98.
@@CelebratingAppalachia I know you like a good story and I have a true story my Dad told me. He and his family would visit his aunt and uncle in Morehead, KY. His uncle lost his leg in an accident. In the morning his uncle would call for his horse. The horse would stand next to the porch and his uncle would climb on the horse. He stayed on the horse all day while he road around the farm checking things out. When it was lunch time, he would ride his horse up to the kitchen window. His wife would hand his plate out the window and they would talk while he ate his lunch on the horse. My Dad never forgot his uncle sitting on his horse at the window having lunch. This is "Yankee ingenuity" at it's finest I think.
I JUST came across your video, I ABSOLUTELY LOVED listening to your knowledge and wisdom!!! THANK YOU and MAY GOD ALWAYS BLESS you, your family and your garden.🙏🙏❤️
My mom made the absolute best chow chow! I’m thankful to have her recipe! ❤️ my daddy had a crock I don’t know what happened to it! I’d love to have it!!! 🥰🙏🏼 I’d get me a piece of corn out of that crock wash it off and boy it was good! My daddy always went by the signs!!! He was a firm believer in those signs!!! Daddy called it pickling but he just used salt! My dad always used a rock in his crock! 🥰 yes that time of the month does effect a lot of things!!! Is that galax layed on your table! ❤️🙌🏼 my area the local pharmacy and ins. company has the calendars to go by the signs!
Been looking for this recipe for awhile now and I'm really surprised that I'm just now finding it. THIS is the recipe that my granny used to make and she also always fermented in the Heads of the signs. Thanks so much, I can wait to taste a part of my grannys treasures again.
Oh I dearly loved my Mother’s Chow Chow….she passed away at 47 with cancer and I was so young her recipes died with her. Thank you for this walk down Memory lane…loved it.
I grew up in nowhere Montana, played guitar starting at age 4 and moved to LA At age 16 in 1983 to be a professional Hard Rock guitarist. I was a successful Heavy Metal Guitarist for 25 years and am now retired,alone, at the beach. ..I should have stayed in Montana and married a woman like you and had a family instead of the wild life.
I’m glad I found your channel it’s pretty cool I grew up in Haywood County. Everything kind of died with my grandmother. Nothing was passed on and I’m trying to learn some of the old ways. I’ve just started learning to can I remember all the great foods, my grandmother used to make my mother never did it my mother was too afraid of canning.
I just found you and RUclips. Thank you for sharing, I truly enjoyed your videos. I love your stories and find them very interesting. I also love to watch you cook. The love when you talk about gardening to. Thank you for providing me something to watch besides whatever is on the television
Now in *MY* family fermenting wasn't for food preservation. Fermenting was a means of concocting some really potent beverages. Some were downright explosive. My uncle Felix made a batch that was able to run a generator on. My cousin Donny tried some of it in a motor scooter and --------well let's just say the scooter didn't survive and Donny walked funny for about a month. It also was a word for making beer and we have some good stories in the family about that also. Like Grandpa Smith used old corks in one of his batches and around two in the morning, grandma said the house was full of the sound of gunfire. But it seems the old corks could hold the pressure of the new beer and were shootin' out of the bottles. She said it took a week to get the kitchen to smelling right again and after that she restricted grandpa to the woodshed when he was gonna make beer.
My mother & grandmother canned as I was growing up but I NEVER paid any attention to any of it because I was just going to "buy my food from the store", they told me I had better have a good job to afford all of that LOL & never pressed me to help. When I married, my mother-in-law was a true farm wife & did EVERYTHING herself, EVERYTHING! So, I decided to help her with the canning & I got the canning bug. Applesauce, pickles, green beans, tomatoes, everything. I got the bright idea I wanted to can some sweet pickles myself. So she gave me instructions & left me to do my own thing. I had several crocks & cookers lined up in my house, full of cucumbers for my sweet pickles. Now, my mother-in-law told me to just "skim off the white, foamy stuff that appears on the top of the water in your cucumbers". Well, to me white, foamy stuff is what comes to the top of the water when boiling potatoes to mash. I was devastated when I lifted the lids to my crocks & found white, moldy patches floating on the top of the water! I threw ALL of it away. A few days went by & my mother-in-law asked how my pickles were coming along & I proceeded to tell her about the mold patches on the water & I had to throw them all away. She said, "I told you there would be some white, foamy stuff on the top of them." I said, "but it was mold!" She said, "yes", like it was the most common thing in the world to have moldy water! LOL! I'm not sure who was more upset over me throwing them out, me or her. So I decided to try again. Got the moldy water thing under control this time, now that I know that's what I'm looking for LOL. Time to add the alum to crisp them up. WEELLLLL, no matter what I did those cucumbers WOULD NOT CRISP UP! I asked my mother-in-law what in the world I had done wrong, so she proceeded to ask "Are you on your cycle?" "My what? " "Your cycle? When did you have your cycle?" Well as it turned out I was on the tail end of it. "Well" she says "that's the problem. The chemicals in your body has affected your pickles. They won't get crisp no matter how much alum you use." So, that bunch goes in the trash because no one wants wilty pickles! Batch #3 gets started, moldy water skimmed off, no cycle, I have crisp pickles! What!?! I actually did it right?!? They turned out amazing! So proud! Some other sage advice she passed along, can't work with tomatoes during a "cycle" either because they would go bad. Who knew? I decided I should have paid attention to my mother & grandmother. Hindsight is definitely 20/20!!
I’m 55 and had an accident that has crippled my life. I decided to make kraut or sour kraut I worked very hard and it was not a success some one told me I made it in the bowels and it should have been done in the feet. Lol. Maybe I’ll try again one day.
Tipper, I thoroughly enjoyed this video! It reminds me of a funny story of something that happened years ago. I was at a church picnic in September and my neighbor who lived high on the mountain behind me was bragging about her chow. She told me that is was absolutely delicious and the best she had ever made. She said she didn't use anything but corn, beans, cabbage and salt. She said that was the way she had always made it and would continue to make it. Not to be outdone, I had just finished canning a large jar of chow into which I had put corn, cabbage, beans, green peppers, a hot pepper, an onion, salt, and a couple of green tomatoes. I told her how delicious it was and it was the way I had always made it and planned to continue to make it that way. You know how human nature works, so all winter I worried that her chow was better than mine and I was missing out. So, the next summer I made mine just like she made hers. When we saw each other at the annual picnic, I discovered she had made hers just like I made mine the year before. We laughed so hard when we found out what we had done. We agreed that both ways were really good!
My grandparents and parents were from the South. I was born and raised in the Central Valley of California in the early 1940s. Most of my parents' friends and relatives were from the South also. Everything you talk about is like walking down memory lane, which I will never forget. You could fit right into our circle of family and friends and nobody would even notice. Your language and style I had not seen nor heard of for many decades. You are a "sweet home" bank of memories for me. Before it is over I will have viewed all your videos one at a time. (You are a lovely lady too!) Bless you.
Tipper, I make chow chow every other year. I can mine. Both my sons love it and so it's quite an ordeal to make enough to last all of us until the next year. I do enjoy it though. You have girls to help you do quite a bit of your cooking and gardening chores. We have to make a special request for the boys to be around to help us harvest or can. It was really funny the first year we canned green beans with my daughter-in-law. She had never canned before. The green beans came out of the canner and she was sitting there pushing the lids down before they sealed themselves. I spotted her doing that and told her "No, don't do that, you want them to seal on their own. I asked her how many she had done that way and I think her answer was "so far". It was about 14 quarts. We had to mark those and make sure we ate them first. Luckily they were ok, each one I opened to cook. That year we canned 160 quarts of beans. It lasted all 3 families through the winter and then some. What a bounty of beans we had that year.
Every year my Granddad, [Paw Paw] planted a huge garden. He was a weaver by trade so after standing up all day behind a loom making wool blankets he'd come home and work in the garden. His garden was bountiful beyond imagination...and.....he NEVER planted anything unless the sign was right for the particular fruit or vegetable that he was planting. The Old Farmer's Almanac was his best friend!
I just saw this video. I’ve been thinking about doing some fermenting. The trick will be to get my family to eat it. I’m looking for ways to preserve food without refrigeration. I must say that your videos have been a breath of fresh air! Your kindness shows through. You remind me of home even though home, to me, is the desert just above the Rio Grande in central New Mexico. I know very little about my family history but I do know that they talk just like you. A bunch of them are transplants from Appalachia to Texas and Oklahoma. My bunch just went further West. Actually, if family lore is accurate, a couple of them on my daddy’s side got run out of Louisiana into Texas for dubious behavior. Then they got run out of Texas into New Mexico. They bounced back and forth from Eastern NM into Texas and back. My dad moved to the Rio Grande Valley. But I hear y’all talking and you sound like my people!
I have never fermented anything before but i think i am going to ferment some hot peppers this year . I have several recipes I have gotten offline to make hot sauce with fermented peppers . I do love homemade hot sauce . 😋
Wow. I have dill pickles, sauerkraut, kimchi, and giardiniera currently. Never thought of chow chow. I am afraid my pickled chow chow will go to waste. Not 😁. Saw this video as you were canning your beets. I saw a recipe for fermented beets somewhere. I am absolutely hooked on your channel.
Tipper, Well I never, I've never seen the like... BUT, I'M GOING TO MAKE SOME N SEE, AND, I'm sharing this with my Woolyworm, Jordan , who lives in S.C. he watches you and tells me how much he enjoys you, he told me about ELAW, and when n why it was said, so NOW, there's an Aussie using it...LOL. Bless you Sweet Sister.:))
I can't even remember the last time I even heard chow chow. When I was growing up it was a staple on my granny's table for red beans. Man I sure do miss my granny from Kentucky. She taught me my love of gardening and simple cooking. Thanks for the memories.
I have to share that I had a green tomatoes and I heard you could ripen them in a cardboard box or paper bag. I placed green tomatoes in paper bags and in a cardboard box with a lid. I left them alone for a few weeks. These were hard green tomatoes. They ripened and were delicious. They looked like they had ripened outside. I read that you should keep some of the vine on the tomatoes and I did that. I was amazed! I'll do the same thing this year.
I love your videos Tipper, and find your stories of Appalachian traditions fascinating and heartwarming. I'm from England and I especially love hearing of how traditions that the Anglos and Celts brought to Appalachia have endured and evolved and melded with those of other cultures. I love the language, music and the cooking. Your scenery ain't half bad neither! These are wonderful documents, full of history, humour, great comments and observations. Please keep them coming. Wishing many blessings to you and yours XX
My grandmother practically had the farmers almanac memorized. You could ask her when you were supposed plant or harvest and she would quote the zodiac, body parts and weeks included during that period. I had that old almanac for a while but lost it in a move. I still have her old churn though that has to be over 100 years old. My favorite were the lime pickles she made. We would help her pick the cucumbers out of the garden and watch her boil the jars on a stove that was fueled by wood :)
Hey y'all. West Virginia feller here. My Grandaddy used to tell me about how his mother would ferment kraut in a 25 gallon crock. She would also use whole apples to weigh down the cabbage. He said that him and his brothers and sisters would sneak in and take apples here an there once they were aready. Needless to say, the apples never lasted long! Thank you for all your great content. And, if you have a kraut recipe, please share it. We all wanna learn the old ways!
We used to go out with bushel baskets and just pick up nuts (Hickory and walnuts) all day. Buckets for all kinds of fruit in the late summer. Fruits got canned and nuts cracked and put in dry storage. Some meat was canned, some, like sausage was just hung in the attic. I see more and more people going back to old ways.
My Grandparents had a huge tall crock that they used to put leftover food in to feed to their pigs. They called the food Hog Slop. I can still smell it fermenting and it smelled really sour.
I grew up in Eastern Ky and always ate chow chow (also called “hot ketchup”) with our soup beans and beef stew or just by the spoonful! it was sour, similar to sauerkraut. When I moved to Nashville, I was so excited to see chow chow at a roadside stand but was so disappointed when I opened the jar and realized it tasted sweet like relish! And that’s all I’ve ever been able to find down here!! I googled it and found that I was apparently raised eating the Pennsylvania Dutch sour version. My mama still makes it. Yum!!!
Speaking of the cabbage core, we always called them cabbage "snoots" (and don't ask me why or where that came from, lol) and we liked to eat then raw or with a little salt. Never did I see it used for anything other than that. But as an adult, I hate to waste, I wondered what it would be like if I cubed and cooked it along with the cabbage. Results? Delicious! And the same with broccoli stems. Other things I've found good to cook and eat are rutabaga, broccoli and Brussels sprout greens. Some things common in some areas aren't so common in other areas. I enjoy finding out about and trying things from other areas. And especially from the Appalachian, Blue Ridge and Smokey mountain areas and from it's people, like ramps and creasy greens to name two. Thank you and I enjoy your videos.
An old timer I know said he use to sneak in his dad's smoke house and cut off pieces of the outside of the hams .he said it became an addiction. We live in virginia in the blue ridge mountains. me and my wife really enjoy your videos thank you
Great video! My family has been in the Far western NC mountains for a couple hundred years (just a few miles from you). I love that you talked about the signs! We always go by them to plant, harvest and pickle. The only thing is we never pickle when they’re in the head, feet, bowels, reins or secrets! (Head= slimy, feet & bowels= stinky, reins & secrets= dark & mushy.) We always prefer to pickle kraut in the heart to make it crunchy and strong. The legs and arms will work too, but it’s best in the heart. It always fascinates me to hear the differences from one part of Appalachia to another even when they’re only a few miles apart ☺️!! Keep up the good work!!
Enjoyed this video! I currently live in New Jersey where there are a lot of grocery stores and delis with Jewish foods which always include a lot of the pickled and fermented things you talk about, just different versions. Some still do the barrel pickles, whole cucumber pickles that are named based on how long they have fermented - sours or half sours- and have lots of garlic in them. So good! I do a lot of ferments and love sour corn, carrots, or cabbage. One little thing i do sometimes for extra safety is fill the plastic bag with brine instead of water so that if any leaks, it keeps the salt level high enough in the pickles to deter bad bacteria.
Add a lactobacillus probiotic to your fermentations and they will never go bad. Empty a capsule or two. If you can your fermented vegetables then add a capsule emptied in the jar when you open it. Leave it on the counter for a few days and your canned product will ferment.
Thank you soooo much!!! I love your videos!!! I have memories that awaken when I see them! I guess we really do return to the familiar!!! So wonderful to get that warm feeling and longing for those memories so bitter sweet... brings tears and smiles wishing for those times back sometimes... especially running wild on my great grandpas farm in WVa.... 5 years old on my great grandpas work horse Dolly... Best babysitter !!! I lived to see her! She loved us kids but mostly me!!! YAY!!!🤗🤣😘‼️🙋♀️Ha Ha to my cousins!!! Drove everyone crazy!!! God bless my dad for watching out for me and taking me hiking in the hills up behind the barn... “And no Susie, you can’t bring Dolly home with you!”😫😫😫🤣🤣🤣😘😘🙋♀️‼️love and miss my dad... sigh😢grateful for memories...
Amazing video. I had already watched it prior, because I already liked it. I love the cabbage core story. It’s funny comparing to today’s culture, that kids appreciated those treats from the garden or pantry. Who knew that kids might risk getting a spanking for a fermented cabbage core. I am going to make your pickled chow chow first. Later, the fermented version. Question- i’ve never had chowder peas. I looked it up online. Some online sites took me to field peas. When I asked if chowder peas and field peas were the same thing, it listed a number of different peas and beans under the category- Black eyed beans etc. Do you view chowder peas as field peas? What is the difference?
@@CelebratingAppalachia OK, I ordered several varieties from Amazon since I am housebound right now. I will let you know how I like crowder peas. But I first have to make a couple batches of chow chow to go with it properly. I hope I can find cheaper sources of beans in the future. The prices are becoming astronomical. ❤️❤️❤️
I simply and truly love pickled corn ! ( I've now realized I love fermented corn , lol ) My Papaw actually grew a certain kind of corn just for pickling , it was called Hickory Cane , and I could have eaten it for every meal .
My Dad's family would have considered pickling hickory cane corn some sort of sacrilege! Dad is 88 now and we can hardly have a meal with corn to this day without him mentioning hickory cane.
Yes your breathe will ruin everything you can and fermint. I didn't know that, my husband's granny taught me to can and fermint. I put up 20 quart's of the prettiest green beans, and I got to smelling something and found my beans spoiled. So when I said something about losing them, she said you weren't sick and I said no. She said not that way your cycle, that's when I learned about my breathe. She said she was sorry, she forgot to tell me about that.
This was also a rule in some Native American tribes. My thoughts on this are that since the woman's body is purging for the month, we wouldn't want any of the purging energy to latch onto the food. Either that, or it's because monthly miseries could taint the food, because it's a (potentially) miserable woman making food for others to eat. (Again, related to energetics.)
Tipper, you keep overwhelming me with your intelligence and keen observations. It's true that some of our best victuals are intentionally half-rotten. Thanks again for the lore.
I visited an Amish family this past summer and there was chow chow at their table. I had never heard of it, but my mom said she had it when she was little. Your crock looks exactly like the cookie jar we had when I was little. It was REALLY hard to steal cookies and not make noise with that glass lid! Lol. ♥️
Ummm make my belly growl! Absolutely love chow chow! I can set down with a box salty crackers and wipe out a quart in 10 mins! Gots some friends over on other side Kings Mtn. Them people use cherry peppers and I dont know what all they put in their chow chow. Why ital take the paint of the hood of your car! but I like it. But chow chow goes with anything on the table. I like to bury it in cornbread. Pshaw I like it anyway you put it it goes good on tater cakes too
Hi Tipper! I just found your channel from all the way over here in Ireland. You’re a wealth of knowledge and I appreciate you. Tell me this so I can understand better. I have a very rudimentary grasp of astrology. Can you describe how one knows which part of the body the sign is in? Do you use an almanac? I’d love to see if this method makes any difference to my own fermentation and brewing. Keep doing what you’re doing. Your content does my heart good x
Hi 🙋🏻♀️ I’m from PA (northeast) but spent first 7-8 years in SW PA which is on the fringes of Appalachia. This spring I took a road trip thru KY and TN and became very interested in your area and started watching your videos. I very much enjoy listening to your stories, folklore, and way of living. Thank you! Have you considered writing a book? Of course living with the land... who has time to write a book? God bless you and your family. Pray for Summer Wells 🙏🏻
My grandmother canned deer meat. I don't do it cause I just freeze every thing. But people did can meat some back then ,,,I'm part Cherokee so I don't know if others did this or not,,,,
I have my great grandma's 1865 50 gallon crock, we have made pickled corn and mix pickles(not pickles) in it. I love that tradition that my Mamaw taught us and I still do it.
I make Kim chi (spicy fermented cabbage) every year and it's the only method of fermentation I know how to do (pack it in jars, sealed tightly, open and press out the air bubbles every day for at least a week). My dad is from Washington co, VA. I've never heard of using the zodiac and honestly I don't know what you mean😂 is it for example, better to pickle during Libra? I'm living overseas now and if I call my dad to ask him this, I know I won't understand him.
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Thanks for the old, long ago memories.
Great video, thanks so much. I am inspired to start fermenting again!
The way you captured the process is wonderful!!
Absolutely love chow chow.
My grandparents always made sauerkraut in a crock. My Dad wouldn't eat lunch at school so he could save his lunch money to go to the movies on Sat. He told me when he got home from school he was starving and he would go down to the basement and dip his hand in the crock and eat the sauerkraut. Such a precious memory. He also ate raw potatoes and when I cooked potatoes for him I would give him a couple pieces raw potato with salt. He would smile so big when I brought it to him. He loved a raw potato until he passed away at age 98.
Colleen-loved hearing about your sweet daddy 😀
@@CelebratingAppalachia I know you like a good story and I have a true story my Dad told me. He and his family would visit his aunt and uncle in Morehead, KY. His uncle lost his leg in an accident. In the morning his uncle would call for his horse. The horse would stand next to the porch and his uncle would climb on the horse. He stayed on the horse all day while he road around the farm checking things out. When it was lunch time, he would ride his horse up to the kitchen window. His wife would hand his plate out the window and they would talk while he ate his lunch on the horse. My Dad never forgot his uncle sitting on his horse at the window having lunch. This is "Yankee ingenuity" at it's finest I think.
@@colleen1770 That is a great story!!
That was very interesting, always learning. Thank you, Tipper!😊🇨🇦
I love your videos. Being a country boy I can relate to your stories.
Yummy
Great information I have heard about the signs and knew people who used them but never knew alot about them.
Great video I can almost taste the sour kaurt and beans. Yummy 😋
I love chow chow with greens
I JUST came across your video, I ABSOLUTELY LOVED listening to your knowledge and wisdom!!! THANK YOU and MAY GOD ALWAYS BLESS you, your family and your garden.🙏🙏❤️
Thank you so much 😀
My mom made the absolute best chow chow! I’m thankful to have her recipe! ❤️ my daddy had a crock I don’t know what happened to it! I’d love to have it!!! 🥰🙏🏼 I’d get me a piece of corn out of that crock wash it off and boy it was good! My daddy always went by the signs!!! He was a firm believer in those signs!!! Daddy called it pickling but he just used salt! My dad always used a rock in his crock! 🥰 yes that time of the month does effect a lot of things!!! Is that galax layed on your table! ❤️🙌🏼 my area the local pharmacy and ins. company has the calendars to go by the signs!
Been looking for this recipe for awhile now and I'm really surprised that I'm just now finding it. THIS is the recipe that my granny used to make and she also always fermented in the Heads of the signs. Thanks so much, I can wait to taste a part of my grannys treasures again.
Wonderful!
Oh I dearly loved my Mother’s Chow Chow….she passed away at 47 with cancer and I was so young her recipes died with her. Thank you for this walk down Memory lane…loved it.
I love chow chow!
Awesome thanks
Just learned about fermentation. I have ordered the supplies from Mason Tops and am going to give it a try this season.
I grew up in nowhere Montana, played guitar starting at age 4 and moved to LA At age 16 in 1983 to be a professional Hard Rock guitarist. I was a successful Heavy Metal Guitarist for 25 years and am now retired,alone, at the beach. ..I should have stayed in Montana and married a woman like you and had a family instead of the wild life.
I hope you find someone to keep you company!! Thank you for watching 😀
I’m glad I found your channel it’s pretty cool I grew up in Haywood County. Everything kind of died with my grandmother. Nothing was passed on and I’m trying to learn some of the old ways. I’ve just started learning to can I remember all the great foods, my grandmother used to make my mother never did it my mother was too afraid of canning.
I'm glad you found us too! I'm also glad you're trying to learn the old ways 😀 Your grandmother would be proud!!
@@CelebratingAppalachia Thanks!!
I absolutely love you and your family.
I live in California but you all make more sense than folks around here.
Thanks so much 😀
I just found you and RUclips. Thank you for sharing, I truly enjoyed your videos. I love your stories and find them very interesting. I also love to watch you cook. The love when you talk about gardening to. Thank you for providing me something to watch besides whatever is on the television
Glad you like them!
chow-chow on a red sausage dog with a little mustard.... yum yum !
my mom made great chw chow and now i live in california i havent been able to eat it in so long. i miss it
Now in *MY* family fermenting wasn't for food preservation. Fermenting was a means of concocting some really potent beverages. Some were downright explosive. My uncle Felix made a batch that was able to run a generator on. My cousin Donny tried some of it in a motor scooter and --------well let's just say the scooter didn't survive and Donny walked funny for about a month.
It also was a word for making beer and we have some good stories in the family about that also. Like Grandpa Smith used old corks in one of his batches and around two in the morning, grandma said the house was full of the sound of gunfire. But it seems the old corks could hold the pressure of the new beer and were shootin' out of the bottles. She said it took a week to get the kitchen to smelling right again and after that she restricted grandpa to the woodshed when he was gonna make beer.
Great stories! Thank you for sharing them 😀
My mother & grandmother canned as I was growing up but I NEVER paid any attention to any of it because I was just going to "buy my food from the store", they told me I had better have a good job to afford all of that LOL & never pressed me to help.
When I married, my mother-in-law was a true farm wife & did EVERYTHING herself, EVERYTHING! So, I decided to help her with the canning & I got the canning bug. Applesauce, pickles, green beans, tomatoes, everything.
I got the bright idea I wanted to can some sweet pickles myself. So she gave me instructions & left me to do my own thing. I had several crocks & cookers lined up in my house, full of cucumbers for my sweet pickles. Now, my mother-in-law told me to just "skim off the white, foamy stuff that appears on the top of the water in your cucumbers". Well, to me white, foamy stuff is what comes to the top of the water when boiling potatoes to mash. I was devastated when I lifted the lids to my crocks & found white, moldy patches floating on the top of the water! I threw ALL of it away. A few days went by & my mother-in-law asked how my pickles were coming along & I proceeded to tell her about the mold patches on the water & I had to throw them all away. She said, "I told you there would be some white, foamy stuff on the top of them." I said, "but it was mold!" She said, "yes", like it was the most common thing in the world to have moldy water! LOL! I'm not sure who was more upset over me throwing them out, me or her.
So I decided to try again. Got the moldy water thing under control this time, now that I know that's what I'm looking for LOL.
Time to add the alum to crisp them up. WEELLLLL, no matter what I did those cucumbers WOULD NOT CRISP UP! I asked my mother-in-law what in the world I had done wrong, so she proceeded to ask "Are you on your cycle?" "My what? " "Your cycle? When did you have your cycle?" Well as it turned out I was on the tail end of it. "Well" she says "that's the problem. The chemicals in your body has affected your pickles. They won't get crisp no matter how much alum you use." So, that bunch goes in the trash because no one wants wilty pickles!
Batch #3 gets started, moldy water skimmed off, no cycle, I have crisp pickles! What!?! I actually did it right?!? They turned out amazing! So proud!
Some other sage advice she passed along, can't work with tomatoes during a "cycle" either because they would go bad.
Who knew? I decided I should have paid attention to my mother & grandmother. Hindsight is definitely 20/20!!
Thank you for sharing 😀
I’m 55 and had an accident that has crippled my life. I decided to make kraut or sour kraut I worked very hard and it was not a success some one told me I made it in the bowels and it should have been done in the feet. Lol. Maybe I’ll try again one day.
Also while I’m still recovering in bed imma be binge watching this for days. I’m so thankful we have RUclips.
Obvious I'm a big fan ... yep I got springs and a half mile of creek
Thank you General! We appreciate your support!!
I'm ALL about me some chowchow and pinto beans and cornbread!
Re: beans & cornbread. ME TOO *IF* there is plenty of butter and sweet milk!
i'm making soup beans an hoecakes tomorrow because of this channel!!. i might run out and get some chow chow from the store
Amen.
Yes indeed
Fermenting vegetables are a must in ones meals. So beneficial for the gut. Good video!
I love anything fermented , you have the most pleasing voice to listen to.
Tipper, I thoroughly enjoyed this video! It reminds me of a funny story of something that happened years ago. I was at a church picnic in September and my neighbor who lived high on the mountain behind me was bragging about her chow. She told me that is was absolutely delicious and the best she had ever made. She said she didn't use anything but corn, beans, cabbage and salt. She said that was the way she had always made it and would continue to make it. Not to be outdone, I had just finished canning a large jar of chow into which I had put corn, cabbage, beans, green peppers, a hot pepper, an onion, salt, and a couple of green tomatoes. I told her how delicious it was and it was the way I had always made it and planned to continue to make it that way. You know how human nature works, so all winter I worried that her chow was better than mine and I was missing out. So, the next summer I made mine just like she made hers. When we saw each other at the annual picnic, I discovered she had made hers just like I made mine the year before. We laughed so hard when we found out what we had done. We agreed that both ways were really good!
Paula-that is too funny!!! Thank you for sharing that story : )
I just learned a bunch! Thanks for sharing this! I just traded for some old antique crocks, now I can put 'em to use.
My grandparents and parents were from the South. I was born and raised in the Central Valley of California in the early 1940s. Most of my parents' friends and relatives were from the South also. Everything you talk about is like walking down memory lane, which I will never forget. You could fit right into our circle of family and friends and nobody would even notice. Your language and style I had not seen nor heard of for many decades. You are a "sweet home" bank of memories for me. Before it is over I will have viewed all your videos one at a time. (You are a lovely lady too!) Bless you.
Thank you Kenneth! So glad I remind you of good memories 😀
💜teachings🕊wisdoms🛐
Tipper I have never heard of this I am gonna try this
Tipper, I make chow chow every other year. I can mine. Both my sons love it and so it's quite an ordeal to make enough to last all of us until the next year. I do enjoy it though. You have girls to help you do quite a bit of your cooking and gardening chores. We have to make a special request for the boys to be around to help us harvest or can. It was really funny the first year we canned green beans with my daughter-in-law. She had never canned before. The green beans came out of the canner and she was sitting there pushing the lids down before they sealed themselves. I spotted her doing that and told her "No, don't do that, you want them to seal on their own. I asked her how many she had done that way and I think her answer was "so far". It was about 14 quarts. We had to mark those and make sure we ate them first. Luckily they were ok, each one I opened to cook. That year we canned 160 quarts of beans. It lasted all 3 families through the winter and then some. What a bounty of beans we had that year.
😇✌🙏
Every year my Granddad, [Paw Paw] planted a huge garden. He was a weaver by trade so after standing up all day behind a loom making wool blankets he'd come home and work in the garden. His garden was bountiful beyond imagination...and.....he NEVER planted anything unless the sign was right for the particular fruit or vegetable that he was planting. The Old Farmer's Almanac was his best friend!
You made this look so easy and absolutely doable. Thank you! 🌸
I just saw this video. I’ve been thinking about doing some fermenting. The trick will be to get my family to eat it. I’m looking for ways to preserve food without refrigeration.
I must say that your videos have been a breath of fresh air! Your kindness shows through. You remind me of home even though home, to me, is the desert just above the Rio Grande in central New Mexico. I know very little about my family history but I do know that they talk just like you. A bunch of them are transplants from Appalachia to Texas and Oklahoma. My bunch just went further West. Actually, if family lore is accurate, a couple of them on my daddy’s side got run out of Louisiana into Texas for dubious behavior. Then they got run out of Texas into New Mexico. They bounced back and forth from Eastern NM into Texas and back. My dad moved to the Rio Grande Valley. But I hear y’all talking and you sound like my people!
So glad I remind you of family! Thank you for watching 😀
I have never fermented anything before but i think i am going to ferment some hot peppers this year . I have several recipes I have gotten offline to make hot sauce with fermented peppers . I do love homemade hot sauce . 😋
I've never fermented hot peppers-I should try that too. Thank you for watching 😀
Wow. I have dill pickles, sauerkraut, kimchi, and giardiniera currently. Never thought of chow chow. I am afraid my pickled chow chow will go to waste. Not 😁. Saw this video as you were canning your beets. I saw a recipe for fermented beets somewhere. I am absolutely hooked on your channel.
🙂
Pickled corn, fried in lard or bacon grease, is fantastic.
Yay!! Chow chow!!! My grandmother used to make this all the time I've been looking for a really good recipe!
You are a good teacher.
I believe the Bible speaks against horoscopes, etc.
Interesting comment...
Oak Leaves work for tannin also in place of Grape. Also Bay. My wife made pickles with both. she prefers the Bay Leaves.
I just started gardening and I plant by the signs! Local Native American tradition also excuses women from preparing food "on their moon time."
You could also add cherry tree leaves, currant leaves, or oak tree leaves to keep vegetable crisp.
I have wanted to try this. If you make Kraut please show us how.
I have a video on kraut-you can check it out when you have time 😀
@@CelebratingAppalachia I was looking last night. I will absolutely. My Grandma Abrams made the best.
I love watching your vids. Keep them coming.
Glad you like them!
Tipper, Well I never, I've never seen the like... BUT, I'M GOING TO MAKE SOME N SEE, AND, I'm sharing this with my Woolyworm, Jordan , who lives in S.C. he watches you and tells me how much he enjoys you, he told me about ELAW, and when n why it was said, so NOW, there's an Aussie using it...LOL. Bless you Sweet Sister.:))
That is wonderful Pippin 🙂
I can't even remember the last time I even heard chow chow. When I was growing up it was a staple on my granny's table for red beans. Man I sure do miss my granny from Kentucky. She taught me my love of gardening and simple cooking. Thanks for the memories.
Mr. Chipps-your Granny sounds like my kinda cook!
I use the Old Farmers Almanac.
My great grandmother from Eastern KY used to make all of this you're talking about. I loved her pickled corn and of course everything else.
I have to share that I had a green tomatoes and I heard you could ripen them in a cardboard box or paper bag. I placed green tomatoes in paper bags and in a cardboard box with a lid. I left them alone for a few weeks. These were hard green tomatoes. They ripened and were delicious. They looked like they had ripened outside. I read that you should keep some of the vine on the tomatoes and I did that. I was amazed! I'll do the same thing this year.
I love your videos Tipper, and find your stories of Appalachian traditions fascinating and heartwarming. I'm from England and I especially love hearing of how traditions that the Anglos and Celts brought to Appalachia have endured and evolved and melded with those of other cultures. I love the language, music and the cooking. Your scenery ain't half bad neither! These are wonderful documents, full of history, humour, great comments and observations.
Please keep them coming.
Wishing many blessings to you and yours XX
Thank you so much for this chow chow recipe. Absolutely love to make it, but haven't fermented it before. This will be made this year.
Hope you enjoy it as much as we do!
This is my favorite video ever! Please do more videos on Appalachian food preservation. Thank you so much!
My grandmother practically had the farmers almanac memorized. You could ask her when you were supposed plant or harvest and she would quote the zodiac, body parts and weeks included during that period. I had that old almanac for a while but lost it in a move. I still have her old churn though that has to be over 100 years old. My favorite were the lime pickles she made. We would help her pick the cucumbers out of the garden and watch her boil the jars on a stove that was fueled by wood :)
Hey y'all. West Virginia feller here. My Grandaddy used to tell me about how his mother would ferment kraut in a 25 gallon crock. She would also use whole apples to weigh down the cabbage. He said that him and his brothers and sisters would sneak in and take apples here an there once they were aready. Needless to say, the apples never lasted long! Thank you for all your great content. And, if you have a kraut recipe, please share it. We all wanna learn the old ways!
We used to go out with bushel baskets and just pick up nuts (Hickory and walnuts) all day. Buckets for all kinds of fruit in the late summer. Fruits got canned and nuts cracked and put in dry storage. Some meat was canned, some, like sausage was just hung in the attic. I see more and more people going back to old ways.
em em good
I am really enjoying your videos ,and will be looking forward to more. You are a born teacher.
Aww-thank you!! So glad you're enjoying them!!
My Grandparents had a huge tall crock that they used to put leftover food in to feed to their pigs. They called the food Hog Slop. I can still smell it fermenting and it smelled really sour.
My cousin and my Grandmama would go back and forth about "the signs". She was not a fan. "I'm not gardening on the Moon" she would say. lol
That’s too funny!!! 🤣🤣🤣
I remember my Mama making ChowChow. Absolutely love it!
I grew up in Eastern Ky and always ate chow chow (also called “hot ketchup”) with our soup beans and beef stew or just by the spoonful! it was sour, similar to sauerkraut. When I moved to Nashville, I was so excited to see chow chow at a roadside stand but was so disappointed when I opened the jar and realized it tasted sweet like relish! And that’s all I’ve ever been able to find down here!! I googled it and found that I was apparently raised eating the Pennsylvania Dutch sour version. My mama still makes it. Yum!!!
Speaking of the cabbage core, we always called them cabbage "snoots" (and don't ask me why or where that came from, lol) and we liked to eat then raw or with a little salt. Never did I see it used for anything other than that. But as an adult, I hate to waste, I wondered what it would be like if I cubed and cooked it along with the cabbage. Results? Delicious! And the same with broccoli stems. Other things I've found good to cook and eat are rutabaga, broccoli and Brussels sprout greens. Some things common in some areas aren't so common in other areas. I enjoy finding out about and trying things from other areas. And especially from the Appalachian, Blue Ridge and Smokey mountain areas and from it's people, like ramps and creasy greens to name two. Thank you and I enjoy your videos.
An old timer I know said he use to sneak in his dad's smoke house and cut off pieces of the outside of the hams .he said it became an addiction. We live in virginia in the blue ridge mountains. me and my wife really enjoy your videos thank you
I know a man who carries a jar of chow chow for when he was stuck out in the community and had to eat ast food.
Great video! My family has been in the Far western NC mountains for a couple hundred years (just a few miles from you). I love that you talked about the signs! We always go by them to plant, harvest and pickle. The only thing is we never pickle when they’re in the head, feet, bowels, reins or secrets! (Head= slimy, feet & bowels= stinky, reins & secrets= dark & mushy.) We always prefer to pickle kraut in the heart to make it crunchy and strong. The legs and arms will work too, but it’s best in the heart. It always fascinates me to hear the differences from one part of Appalachia to another even when they’re only a few miles apart ☺️!! Keep up the good work!!
Stephanie-thank you for watching!! My husband's aunt prefers the heart for kraut too 😀
Enjoyed this video! I currently live in New Jersey where there are a lot of grocery stores and delis with Jewish foods which always include a lot of the pickled and fermented things you talk about, just different versions. Some still do the barrel pickles, whole cucumber pickles that are named based on how long they have fermented - sours or half sours- and have lots of garlic in them. So good! I do a lot of ferments and love sour corn, carrots, or cabbage. One little thing i do sometimes for extra safety is fill the plastic bag with brine instead of water so that if any leaks, it keeps the salt level high enough in the pickles to deter bad bacteria.
Great tip about the brine!
Add a lactobacillus probiotic to your fermentations and they will never go bad. Empty a capsule or two. If you can your fermented vegetables then add a capsule emptied in the jar when you open it. Leave it on the counter for a few days and your canned product will ferment.
I've never heard that-fascinating!! Thank you for watching and for sharing!
Thank you soooo much!!! I love your videos!!! I have memories that awaken when I see them! I guess we really do return to the familiar!!! So wonderful to get that warm feeling and longing for those memories so bitter sweet... brings tears and smiles wishing for those times back sometimes... especially running wild on my great grandpas farm in WVa.... 5 years old on my great grandpas work horse Dolly... Best babysitter !!! I lived to see her! She loved us kids but mostly me!!! YAY!!!🤗🤣😘‼️🙋♀️Ha Ha to my cousins!!! Drove everyone crazy!!! God bless my dad for watching out for me and taking me hiking in the hills up behind the barn... “And no Susie, you can’t bring Dolly home with you!”😫😫😫🤣🤣🤣😘😘🙋♀️‼️love and miss my dad... sigh😢grateful for memories...
Amazing video. I had already watched it prior, because I already liked it.
I love the cabbage core story. It’s funny comparing to today’s culture, that kids appreciated those treats from the garden or pantry. Who knew that kids might risk getting a spanking for a fermented cabbage core.
I am going to make your pickled chow chow first. Later, the fermented version.
Question- i’ve never had chowder peas. I looked it up online. Some online sites took me to field peas. When I asked if chowder peas and field peas were the same thing, it listed a number of different peas and beans under the category-
Black eyed beans etc.
Do you view chowder peas as field peas? What is the difference?
😊 a lot of folks do call crowder peas field peas. I’ve also heard them called clay peas.
@@CelebratingAppalachia OK, I ordered several varieties from Amazon since I am housebound right now.
I will let you know how I like crowder peas. But I first have to make a couple batches of chow chow to go with it properly.
I hope I can find cheaper sources of beans in the future. The prices are becoming astronomical.
❤️❤️❤️
@@KimOpperman I hope you enjoy them 🙂
I simply and truly love pickled corn ! ( I've now realized I love fermented corn , lol )
My Papaw actually grew a certain kind of corn just for pickling , it was called Hickory Cane , and I could have eaten it for every meal .
My Dad's family would have considered pickling hickory cane corn some sort of sacrilege! Dad is 88 now and we can hardly have a meal with corn to this day without him mentioning hickory cane.
Wow! Thanks this here is precious knowing.
Glad it was helpful!
Yes your breathe will ruin everything you can and fermint. I didn't know that, my husband's granny taught me to can and fermint. I put up 20 quart's of the prettiest green beans, and I got to smelling something and found my beans spoiled. So when I said something about losing them, she said you weren't sick and I said no. She said not that way your cycle, that's when I learned about my breathe. She said she was sorry, she forgot to tell me about that.
I have heard that saying about ladies
This was also a rule in some Native American tribes. My thoughts on this are that since the woman's body is purging for the month, we wouldn't want any of the purging energy to latch onto the food. Either that, or it's because monthly miseries could taint the food, because it's a (potentially) miserable woman making food for others to eat. (Again, related to energetics.)
Tipper, you keep overwhelming me with your intelligence and keen observations. It's true that some of our best victuals are intentionally half-rotten. Thanks again for the lore.
I love Chow Chow on my Greens .
I visited an Amish family this past summer and there was chow chow at their table. I had never heard of it, but my mom said she had it when she was little.
Your crock looks exactly like the cookie jar we had when I was little. It was REALLY hard to steal cookies and not make noise with that glass lid! Lol. ♥️
Do make kraut?
Robin I do-we love Kraut!
@@CelebratingAppalachia would you do a video on how you do it?
@@epsitucky0920 I'll try to do one!
I still make sauerkraut the way my grandma did. She was austrian
My grandmother always said you can’t make sauerkraut when your having your period. It will ruin the sauerkraut.
Ummm make my belly growl! Absolutely love chow chow! I can set down with a box salty crackers and wipe out a quart in 10 mins! Gots some friends over on other side Kings Mtn. Them people use cherry peppers and I dont know what all they put in their chow chow. Why ital take the paint of the hood of your car! but I like it. But chow chow goes with anything on the table. I like to bury it in cornbread. Pshaw I like it anyway you put it it goes good on tater cakes too
We always had a jar of chow-chow in the fridge growing up. My dad and I liked it with our fried eggs 😋.
Hi Tipper!
I just found your channel from all the way over here in Ireland. You’re a wealth of knowledge and I appreciate you.
Tell me this so I can understand better. I have a very rudimentary grasp of astrology. Can you describe how one knows which part of the body the sign is in? Do you use an almanac? I’d love to see if this method makes any difference to my own fermentation and brewing.
Keep doing what you’re doing. Your content does my heart good x
Thank you Clare-so glad you've been enjoying our videos! Yes I use an almanac to know the corresponding body parts 🙂
Hi 🙋🏻♀️
I’m from PA (northeast) but spent first 7-8 years in SW PA which is on the fringes of Appalachia. This spring I took a road trip thru KY and TN and became very interested in your area and started watching your videos. I very much enjoy listening to your stories, folklore, and way of living. Thank you! Have you considered writing a book? Of course living with the land... who has time to write a book? God bless you and your family. Pray for Summer Wells 🙏🏻
Thank you Darcy!! I do write a blog-you can find the link in the description of every video 🙂 I will be praying!!
Thank you again for another great video! Is there any reason that you put more cucumber in?
Lisa-not really I think it works well with what sort of veggies you have on hand. I usually have a lot of cucumbers 😀
That's kind of what I figured thank you!
My grandmother canned deer meat. I don't do it cause I just freeze every thing. But people did can meat some back then ,,,I'm part Cherokee so I don't know if others did this or not,,,,
We still freeze some too.
My mother scanned Deer meat and sausage and taught my brother how to.
I enjoyed this so much. Thank you!
We lived in Spartanburg SC for awhile. The ladies at our Ben Avon UMC made the best Chow Chow in three levels of heat: mild, medium, and oh mama!
I have my great grandma's 1865 50 gallon crock, we have made pickled corn and mix pickles(not pickles) in it. I love that tradition that my Mamaw taught us and I still do it.
I loved cores!
I make Kim chi (spicy fermented cabbage) every year and it's the only method of fermentation I know how to do (pack it in jars, sealed tightly, open and press out the air bubbles every day for at least a week). My dad is from Washington co, VA. I've never heard of using the zodiac and honestly I don't know what you mean😂 is it for example, better to pickle during Libra? I'm living overseas now and if I call my dad to ask him this, I know I won't understand him.
We prefer to ferment when the signs are in the head which falls under Aries 😊
I love to eat the cabbage cores straight out of the cabbage. My grandmother, mother and aunt did chow chow one year. It was so good!
Do you know anything about branch lettuce and ramps
Mary-yes! I hope to do a video on ramps 😀 Thank you for watching!!