Poppy seed bread, desert or powerful medicine?
We’ve talked about how powerful the Poppy flower is and all of the wonder properties its opioid alkyds have contributed to modern medicine as we know it, but did you realize this popular little seed that we eat almost every day can be a powerful medicine as well?
That’s right, its on hotdog buns, hamburger buns, muffins, cake, cookies, savory and sweet recipes alike. But wait a minute. They really don’t have any flavor that i recall. So why are they used as an ingredient in so many foods we eat? Well the answer might be found in its family tree, or flower. As we all know the flower is a potent medicine and believe it or not the seeds have a good amount of the same alkaloidal medicine produced by the plant to make morphine, codeine vicodin, oxycontin, hydrocodone, and many others.
Poppy seeds bathing in their alkaloid rich poppy pods.
For centuries poppy seeds have been taken by mouth for asthma, constipation, cough, diarrhea, but mostly to promote sleep (sleeplessness). Our that’s why we use them today. Our ancestors knew this and used them to treat sleeplessness by adding them to the final meal of the day–dessert. Modern science has been trying to tell us for decades that there aren’t any alkaloids in the seeds but they’re just wrong. I’ve attached a couple scholarly articles. Here’s the story: Technically there are no alkaloids produced in or by the seeds. However, just about every seed is covered with the alkaloid rich sap that naturally exists in the seed pods. The seeds are literally coated with it and it doesn’t get washed off. So, technically the scientific community is correct but the scientific sampling of retail poppy seeds show that that your supermarket variety poppy seeds are coated with the alkaloid.
Its not washed off and doesn’t deteriorate during baking. It remains medicinal and probably a good way to catch a descent nights sleep. But we’ve known that for thousands of years.
