green tomatoes and depending on the recipe, all sorts of things are added from salt, sugar, brown sugar, peppers of varying degrees of hotness and of course… vinegar. Most people who aren’t from the south have no idea how to eat this wonderful concoction. Friends from north of the Mason Dixon line who have visited me and taken home jars
in the past 20 years there wasn’t a jar of chow chow in my house. Along with the homemade chow chow you can often find organic bakeries selling sweet and savory breads baked that morning or local farmers selling sausage, bacon or ham. I have also seen beef farmers selling roasts and steaks from a refrigerated truck. Not only are these usually better quality than what I have found in local grocery stores, they are also generally at a better price. In addition to fresh ripe pro- duce and lo- cally grown meats and canned goods that will re- mind you of your child- hood, every vendor at a farmers market is willing to
Roxanne Lark Photo
have told me they use it on hotdogs and ham- burgers or they mix it into pasta salad. But here in the south, we put heaping spoonsful of this on our beans or peas (pintos, green beans, crowder peas, black eyed peas, butter beans – any kind of bean) or on top of greens. Store bought chow chow just won’t cut it. The best stuff is homemade (which I am not about to do) or you can get a great variety at the farmers market. There you can choose from the very hot and spicy to the very mild or the sweet and spicy combo. I always keep several jars of each in my cabinet or refrigerator to suit the whole family. I cannot think of a time
offer up advice on which watermelon or can- taloupe to choose, when to cut it or how to cook the vegetables you just purchased. Any- one who wants to learn the fine art of South- ern cooking should really start by going from table to table here. On my last trip to the Lowell Farmers Market held every Thursday from 4:00 – 7:00pm in downtown Lowell, NC, I picked up some heir- loom tomatoes. After bringing them home and slicing one purple beauty for a tomato sandwich (on white bread with Duke’s May- onnaise and salt and pepper) I immediately wished I had not ignored these odd-looking
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