Papaver seeds baking
Poppy seeds. Coming from Papaver genus among a wide variety of species belonging to this group includes also the most known and controversial of all: Papaver somniferum, source of opium and the narcotic alkaloids: morphine and codeine, which is used in medicine to control pain, asthma, chronic coughs binds up the intestines in chronic diarrhea and dysenteric disorders. Opium has been employed and abused for centuries for its painkilling and euphoric properties. For palliative care, morphine is now the first choice painkiller, primarily used in the final stages of terminal diseases, and pain provoked by sinews, bones or epigastrium, It has both sedative and hypnotic effects, and is highly addictive.The significance of the plant as a medicine is essential, but it is far more important for its culinary tradition in the Middle Eastern countries, where is frequently used for baking.
Papaver seeds, which do not contain the mentioned alkaloids, and do not have a narcotic effect, are widely used as 'poppy seeds' for baking breads, cakes, bagels and cookies, in Europe and Middle East cooking. Middle Eastern delicacies such as the “halva” also are made with Papaver seeds. Papaver seeds enrich bread and cakes with a nice nutty flavor improving the nutritional content of this basic meal, and are a good source of fiber and essential oils, Papaver seeds are used extensively in baking and sprinkling on rolls and bread. Seeds are a good source of energy. The seeds also yield good quality oil used for salads and the preparation of dressings. In Turkey, they are often ground and used in desserts. In India, the seeds are ground and used to thicken sauces. The seeds are also used in noodle, fish, and vegetable dishes in Jewish, German, and Slavic cooking. It’s a common thickening agent in the Moghul cooking style of Northern India. They are also the source of a drying oil, used for manufacture of paints, varnishes, and soaps. Oil cake is commonly used to feed cattle.
Papaver Seeds are preferably employed for the preparation of emulsions (white-seeded varieties preferred); while the bluish-black varieties are mostly selected for baking. The stems are used for straw. Lecithin is extracted from poppy seeds. As the peony flowered poppy, the opium poppy is widely grown as an ornamental all around the world, and even in the US, where it is illegal to grow. Sprouts are eaten as an herb in Iran.
Papaver seeds are native and cultivated in the Mediterranean region (primarily the east of Iran); now a days, its harvesting is widely spread in many tropical, subtropical, and warm temperate countries such as India, Iran, Turkey, Yugoslavia, Macedonia, Bulgaria, China, Manchuria, many countries of Asia; in other parts of Europe and India the seeds are cropped and commercialized to cover the increasing demand for these seeds. In Japan and Australia they are cultivated for medicinal purposes
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