Samp

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A corn product made from hominy that has been coarsely cracked. (Hominy is also coarsely ground. There are medium and finely ground versions, too.) Traditionally, the word samp, from the Algonquin, nasàump, referred simply to “hominy” and was not a name given to a specific type of hominy or as a reference to the size of the pieces after cracking or grinding, and so, over the years, the word samp, became a term that was interchangeable with the term hominy. Since American colonial times, the word has also been used as a name for cereal, cornmeal mush, or porridge made from hominy.

Samp can be boiled or fried and served as a side dish. It can be combined with other ingredients, such as meat, or it can be formed into cakes or used as a filler in soups and stews. Samp is also known as “big hominy”; a reference to the size of the pieces after cracking.

Dried White Corn - Whole Kernel Hominy Golden Hominy
Dried Golden Samp or Hominy - Coarse Ground
White Hominy
Dried White Samp or Hominy - Coarse Ground

samp term
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Submitted by: Urocyon
Date: 2008/01/17

"The description is a bit confusing. Samp is just an Algonquin word for hominy, which was transplanted to southern Africa along with the food product, and has stayed in use there. The term got replaced by "hominy" in American English, but both were used regionally. "Hominy" is the treated corn product, while the "grits" part of "hominy grits" is specified because that's the small pounded/ground form. "Medium or coarse ground hominy" would be grits. "Samp" now refers to coarsely cracked hominy, originally the stubborn bits that didn't crack into smaller pieces in traditional flour/grit pounding. This was also known as "big hominy", as opposed to "small hominy"--i.e., grits. It makes more sense if you've tried your hand at making and pounding the stuff. :)"

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