1. Who discovered corn in the New World?

A. Christopher Columbus

B. Leif Ericson

C. Capt. John Smith

2. True or false: Europeans grew corn before they found maize in the New World.

3. Historians think corn may have originated in:

A. New Mexico

B. Honduras and Guatemala

C. Pennsylvania

4. True or false: Corn may be the only food plant that cannot reproduce itself without the aid of man.

5. Which European country first accepted corn into its diet?

A. England

B. France

C. Italy

6. At an early American husking bee, the person who found the first colored ear was entitled to:

A. All the corn he or she could shuck in an hour.

B. Kiss the person of his choice.

C. A healthy plow horse.

7. The line "The corn grows as high as an elephant's eye" comes from:

A. Oklahoma!

B. The Devil and Daniel Webster

C. Children of the Corn IV

8. Succotash is an American dish made with:

A. Corn, green beans and country ham.

B. Corn and diced red and green bell peppers.

C. Corn and lima beans

9. Who developed sweet corn, the variety that we eat from the cob today?

A. U.S. Department of Agriculture

B. Libby Food Co.

C. Iroquois Indians

10. Who proposed this recipe for boiling corn? Put a kettle of water in the middle of a cornfield. Build a fire under it, and when the water begins to boil, pick the ears within reach and shuck them directly into the kettle.

A. Thomas Jefferson

B. Mark Twain

C. Julia Child

Answers below:

1. B. In 1492, two Spaniards sent by Columbus to explore Cuba returned to report they had discovered a grain the Indians called "maize." But 500 years earlier, Viking adventurer Ericson reported he found self-sown "wheat" growing in Vinland (thought to be part of North America). But it could not have been wheat, because there was none until Europeans brought it to the continent. So Ericson probably was the first to discover corn in the New World.

2. True. In Europe, any kind of cereal or grain, such as barley and wheat, was called "corn." When they found it in North America, Europeans called the new grain "Indian corn" to distinguish it from their grains. It was also called "maize," taken from the West Indian "mahiz."

3. B. Archeological evidence shows corn was grown in what is now Honduras and Guatemala before 6600 B.C. It moved north through Mexico and was cultivated in New Mexico by 4500 B.C. It probably arrived in the Midwest more than 2,000 years ago.

4. True. Corn's seeds or kernels don't make contact with the soil unless someone removes the tough shuck. Historians think the corn plant we have now was developed, either deliberately or by accidental mutation.

5. C. Corn was first planted and raised in quantity in Spain in 1525. But the Italians were the first to accept it into their diet, using cornmeal in polenta and to make bread and desserts. Most of the rest of Europe resisted eating the new grain until the 19th century.

6. B.

7. A.

8. C. Most popular in the South and cafeterias, the dish's name, "succotash," is derived from an Indian word.

9. C. Indians were raising sweet corn in central New York state as early as 1799, but it wasn't widely cultivated until after the Civil War. Until then, most everyone ate field corn.

10. B.