sour corn

noun

Lactofermented pickled corn, a dish eaten in the Southern United States, especially in Appalachia.

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Meanings

nounsour corn (uncountable)
  1. uncountableLactofermented pickled corn, a dish eaten in the Southern United States, especially in Appalachia.

    Sour corn could always be found in one of those mysterious crocks that sat in the dark and musky basement at my grandma's house.

    2019, Sean Brock, South: Essential Recipes and New Explorations, page 272
    2 more examples

    "I always thought that sour corn was the European tradition of sour cabbage brought over and applied to local ingredients," explains April. But after talking to a Cherokee folklorist, she came to understand "that sour corn was already a Native American tradition that Europeans raised on sour cabbage had a taste for."

    2012, Sandor Ellix Katz, The Art of Fermentation: An In-depth Exploration of Essential Concepts, page 215

    Appalachian Sour Corn […] Saure Bohnen translates to “sourbeans” and is a traditional German dish. […] [S]ettlers from the Palatinate region who brought the practice to Appalachia were fermenting green beans in large crocks to be consumed through the winter. Think sauerkraut, only with green beans. And since that method is so adaptable, they quickly adapted it to fresh corn. […] The sugar and starch give sour corn a rounder, fuller presence in the mouth, […]

    2016, Ronni Lundy, Victuals: An Appalachian Journey, with Recipes, Clarkson Potter, →ISBN, page 118
  2. uncountableUsed other than figuratively or idiomatically: see sour, corn.
    1 more example

    “Sour corn” is a term often misused, but its real meaning is that the corn within a can, which has all the appearance of being good on the outside, is found on opening to be sour and nauseating to the taste. Cans of sour corn will never under any circumstances swell, otherwise they would come under the heading of swells.

    1899, Edward Wiley Duckwall, Bacteriology: Applied to the Canning and Preserving of Food Products, page 78

Origin

sour (“tart”) + corn, possibly influenced by the first element of German saure Bohnen (literally “sour beans”) and Sauerkraut (“sauerkraut”).

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

sour corn. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sour%20corn

MLA

“sour corn.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sour%20corn. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “sour corn,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sour%20corn.

Source: sour corn on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.