Buzz
Creamed corn. Cornbread. Cornmeal. Corned beef. One of these is not like the others. Not only does corned beef not contain any corn, but corn isn’t even part of how it’s made. So why is it called corned beef?
To put it simply, it's because the word 'corn' didn’t originally refer to the familiar yellow grain from the cob.
As early as the late 9th century, the Oxford English Dictionary shows that 'corn' was used to refer to a 'small hard particle' of any grainy material such as sand or salt. By the 16th century, using 'corns' of salt to preserve food became known as 'corning' it.
Pork, fish, and of course beef were all corned, but corned beef wasn't widely consumed in Ireland until the mid-17th century. This was because Great Britain had developed a booming cattle industry in Ireland, where the Irish people typically used cows for farming labor and dairy. As reported by Smithsonian Magazine, exporters shipped tens of thousands of live cows from Ireland to England every year, which negatively impacted England's own cattle farmers.
In response, the British government introduced a series of Cattle Acts in the mid-17th century, which initially restricted and then completely banned the importation of Irish cattle. Fortunately for Ireland, they had an abundance of salt, and the salt tax was much lower than England's, so the Irish began corning their beef and sending it to England (and eventually to other countries as well).
Despite this, the Irish themselves weren’t consuming much corned beef—it was much more affordable to eat salted pork. This shifted in the early 19th century when rising pork prices in the U.S. led Irish immigrants to find a cheaper option in Jewish delis, where corned beef was commonly served. This gave rise to the tradition of corned beef and cabbage becoming the go-to dish for St. Patrick's Day in America. However, if you’re in Ireland celebrating, pork is still the dish of choice.
