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Granoturco, Mais
Maize
Appears in
By Antonio Carluccio and Priscilla Carluccio
Published 1997
Maize was discovered by Columbus during his voyage to America, but was only popularized some time later by the Spanish conqueror Cortès, who first introduced it into Spain around the year 1500. The northern Italians and French were very impressed with the cereal, which grew abundantly in difficult dry conditions.
While it was originally used to feed animals, it later became popular with the peasant population who found that it could be dried and ground into a flour that could be used to make polenta, bread and biscuits. It was then widely used as a substitute for wheat flour, although the corn itself was also eaten fresh on the cob either boiled or roasted (see Pannocchia).