sour corn

"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."

“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.