Nutbush City Limits Trivia Quiz

Answer: Texas

The pecan is commonly associated with the U.S. South and many southern states have the pecan as their official nut or pecan pie as their official pie. Pecans are very common sight throughout Texas as the nut is grown in all of the state's 254 counties.

Question by MiraJane

Answer: Ink

Walnut ink made from black walnuts was a common way to mark criminals in some societies, most notably amongst the Romani people. The ink would be splashed on a criminal's hand and this ink is nearly impossible to wash off and is very noticeable. Leonardo da Vinci wrote and drew with walnut ink and he is sometimes credited with inventing it.

He also occasionally painted with walnut paint.

Answer: Nat King Cole

Written as "The Christmas Song", this is more commonly known as "Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire". The first recording was by the Nat King Cole trio in 1946. It has been widely covered since.

Chestnuts are brown nuts that grow in a spiky shell on trees in forests and parks. Not all chestnuts are good to eat, some are harmful. Most people buy the good kind from a shop. There are different ways of roasting them. One of the best is to wrap them in foil and put them in a medium hot fire for 15 minutes.

If you do not have an open fire, you can cook them in an oven, but be sure to pierce them with a small hole first or they could explode.

Answer: Amaretto

Amaretto is most commonly made from almonds or almond products but can also be made with peaches and other stone fruits. According to legend, amaretto was first made by a woman who served as the model for the Virgin Mary in a fresco painted by Bernardino Luini.

Answer: Tuskegee Institute

Tuskegee was founded in 1881 and renamed Tuskegee University in 1985.

Carver was born into slavery. When he was an infant, he and his parents were sold to a plantation further south. Mr. Carver, the family's owner, paid to have them returned. Only the infant George was returned. After the Civil War and emancipation, Carver raised the boy as his own, educating him and teaching him what we would now call organic farming, herbal medicine, and most importantly, crop rotation. George W Carver was actually studying to be a nature painter. He was so good at it one of his teachers suggested he study botany. A college accepted him and offered a full scholarship. When he showed up, he was refused admittance because he was black.

He circulated a newsletter that reprinted the USDA's bulletin on 105 recipes for peanuts. It was popular and often reprinted. Cotton was the cash crop of the south. It also robbed the soil of nutrients and was prone to failure due to boll weevils' infestation. It would also give poor yields after a few years due to soil depletion.

That's why Carver was promoting crop rotation for plants like peanuts to put nitrogen back into the soil. It could be used as a foodstuff and a cash crop. The disgusting peanut can be made into oil, flour, boiled and eaten, made into that gross paste known as peanut butter. The shells and plant can even be made into a fiber for clot. Contrary to urban myth/rumor/historical misinformation, Carver did not invent peanut butter. The Aztecs had a recipe for it in the 1400s.

Question by MiraJane

Answer: Uzbekistan

Pistachios are believed to have been first grown in Central Asia around the area that now stretches from Kazakhstan south to Pakistan. Pistachios need saline soil to grow which is found in the area. However, the United States is now the world's leading producer of pistachios, and the nut is more commonly associated with the Mediterranean region than Central Asia.

Answer: Ramon

The ramon or breadnut is a small, red nut so named because the Mayas used it in their breads. The ramon was a staple of Maya diet as it grew plentifully even in times of famine and drought. It was also used to feed animals and livestock because it was considered inexpensive and easy to find.

Answer: No

The kola nut, endemic to African rainforests, was originally used by John Pemberton to extract caffeine and used in the original Coca-Cola recipe. However, kola nuts are no longer used in the formula as there are now more efficient and less expensive methods of extracting caffeine.

Answer: Earthnut

Earthnut is the common name given to small, edible tubers and legumes found worldwide. They have provided a food source for indigenous populations for thousands of years. The leaves are used as fresh or dried herbs. Some examples of earthnuts are parsley and truffles. Earthnuts are also known as groundnuts and pignuts. Butternuts and heartnuts are types of walnuts. Coconuts are technically nuts as they are edible seeds.

Question by MiraJane

Answer: Ripon, California

Originally named Murphy's Ferry and Stanislaus City, it was renamed in 1876 for Ripon, Wisconsin. Although the big crop here is almonds, the town and the surrounding area grow a variety of other crops as well. This area of California is ideal for growing almonds because of its mild climate, constant sunshine and being less susceptible to draughts than other regions of the state. However, the impact of climate change is having a negative impact on almond production in the region.

Question by MiraJane