Nutty and pleasant in taste, poppy seeds are nutritious oilseeds used as condiment in cooking. They are the seeds obtained from the dry fruits (pods) of the poppy plant (opium poppy) and entirely free from any sinister side effects of other poppy plant products such as opium poppy.
Poppy plant is a biennial herb of East Mediterranean, and Asia Minor origin belonging to the Papaveraceae family of the genus: Papaver. Scientific name: Papaver somniferum.
Ancient Egyptians were aware of seeds extraction from the poppy head. Through the Arab traders, opium cultivation spread to Persia, ancient Khorasan, and India. Today seeds poppy is a well established commercial crop in many parts of the world Mediterranean countries including Turkey, France, India, and East European region.
The poppy plant grows up to 5 feet in height. It requires full sunlight and fertile soil to flourish. Depending upon variety, lilac, blue, red or white flowers appear during spring on long peduncles which subsequently turn into globular or oval shaped fruits (capsules).
sesame and poppy seeds white poppy seeds
Close up view. Compare black poppy seeds with white sesame seeds size. Also note for bean shaped poppy with polygonal surface indentations.
Photo courtesy: lenore-m White poppy seeds.
Individual fruit head measures about 4–6 cm in length and 3–4 cm in diameter, contains numerous tiny, bean (kidney) shaped seeds, which rattle when shaken inside dried capsules. Seeds poppy can be light gray to dark gray, black, or bluish depending on cultivar type.
Its seeds, which are used as condiment spice and to press oil, indeed are very safe to use as food and contain negligible quantities of toxic alkaloids of the opium poppy.