SOMSAUCE has expanded its tasty offerings
By Debbie L. Sklar
A small booth has been steadily turning heads with something far from ordinary at the Scripps Ranch Farmer’s Market: street corn and Cambodian-inspired refreshers. SOMSAUCE, the Cambodian-style food venture created by Peter Som, has grown from a single signature bottle (of sauce) into a full market experience – one that now includes corn, sauces and handcrafted drinks rooted in memory, family and cultural interpretation.
“SOMSAUCE started with the bottle, but since we last spoke, the booth has naturally evolved into a fuller Cambodian food experience,” Som said. “The mission is still the same: to highlight Cambodian flavors through my Cambodian American lens, but now people can taste those flavors in more ways.”
That expansion shows up most clearly in SOMCORN, his Cambodian Coconut Street Corn, which has quickly become the booth’s most recognizable dish. While inspired by Cambodian coconut corn – known traditionally as poat ang ktis – Som is clear that this is not a strict replication.
“My version is not a strict traditional recipe,” he said. “It is my interpretation, shaped by growing up Cambodian in San Diego.”
The dish blends coconut milk, corn, green onion, fried garlic, cotija cheese, paprika and SOMSAUCE itself, layering Cambodian flavor memory with a familiar street food format. The result is rich, creamy and slightly sweet, with a savory backbone that catches many first-time customers off guard.
“The ingredient that surprises people most is coconut milk,” Som said. “A lot of people are used to butter, mayo or cheese with corn, so when they taste coconut milk in a savory corn dish, it opens up a new lane for them.”
That idea – opening a new lane – runs through the entire SOMSAUCE menu. Alongside SOMCORN, the booth now features a new Mustard Greens sauce, inspired by pickled mustard greens common across Southeast Asian cuisines. Som describes it as “bright, garlicky, savory and has a clean serrano heat,” designed to capture the tangy depth of traditional pickled greens in a modern hot sauce format.
“It is another example of what I am trying to do with SOMSAUCE,” he said. “Take familiar Cambodian and Southeast Asian flavor memories and turn them into something people can use every day.”
If SOMCORN is the warm, savory anchor of the booth, the drinks provide the contrast. Developed by his sister, Chan-trea, the Cambodian-inspired refreshers have become a key part of the expanded menu. Flavors include tamarind jackfruit, dragonfruit lemongrass, and pineapple cucumber galangal – each built from tropical fruit, herbs and layered sweetness.
“My sister Chantrea is a big part of the reason I even started SOMSAUCE,” Som said. “She invented the drinks, makes her own syrups and serves them at the market.”
Together, the food and drinks create balance. As Som put it, “SOMCORN is warm, creamy, savory and rich, while the drinks are cold, bright, fruity and refreshing.”
Customer response has been strong at the Scripps Ranch Farmer’s Market – and sometimes surprising. SOMCORN, in particular, tends to draw curious reactions from first-timers.
“People usually have no reference point for it,” Som said. “They see corn in a cup and think they understand it, but then they taste the coconut milk and Cambodian flavors, and it catches them off guard in a good way.”
The Mustard Greens sauce has also become a talking point, especially for its layered flavor profile that goes beyond heat. Som said the most common reaction he hears is simple but meaningful: “I didn’t expect to like that, but I’ve been thinking about it all week.”
Underlying all of it is a careful balance between cultural authenticity and accessibility. Som described his approach as keeping “the core flavor honest, then making the format approachable,” allowing customers to step into Cambodian flavors without needing prior knowledge.
“It is not just about whether an ingredient is rare,” he said. “It is about whether it gives the dish the right balance of sweet, salty, sour, savory and aromatic.”
Looking ahead, Som plans to continue expanding SOMSAUCE, but intentionally. The focus remains on sauces as the foundation, with future additions inspired by Cambodian flavor memory and family tradition.
“I do not want to rush it just to have a bigger menu,” he said. “I want every item to make sense, connect to the culture, carry good intention and still feel like SOMSAUCE.”
For now, that intention is already evident in every cup of SOMCORN, every sip of a citrus-herbal refresher and every bottle of sauce handed across the farmer’s market table – each one offering a small, flavorful bridge between Cambodian tradition and a California street corner.
Visit the SOMSAUCE booth at the Scripps Ranch Farmers Market, held each Thursday from 3:30 to 7:30 p.m. at 10045 Carroll Canyon Road.