Poppy seed

Poppy seed is the mature, ripe seed of Papaver somniferum, the opium poppy, harvested only after the latex-bearing capsule has dried and the alkaloids have withdrawn from the seed itself. Each seed is a kidney-shaped grain under a millimetre long, reticulated on the surface like a miniature brain, and cold-pressing yields an edible oil rich in linoleic acid used in Alsace and Austria. Three commercial colour grades exist: slate-blue European seed (the baker's default, with the roundest nut-marzipan aroma), creamy white Indian khus khus (milder, prized as a thickener for kormas and rogan josh), and grey-brown Turkish or Spanish seed used in breadmaking. The nutty toasted scent comes from hexanal, 2-pentylfuran and a handful of pyrazines that only develop once the seed is warmed; raw poppy seed on a finger tastes of almond paste and cold milk. Trace amounts of morphine and codeine cling to the outside of the seed — not enough to dose anyone, but enough to make ground poppy seed bagels trigger positive workplace drug screens for up to forty-eight hours, a well-documented forensic headache. Canonical uses include German Mohnbrötchen, Czech and Polish makowiec rolls, Hungarian beigli, Indian khus khus korma, Lebanese sesame-poppy breadsticks and Ashkenazi hamantaschen.