Description

Poppy (Papaver somniferum L.) Poppy is an ancient cultigen; it is mentioned in the Ilias, an epic ascribed to the legendary Greek poet Homeros. The Ilias is, together with the contemporary Odysseia, by far the oldest European poetry and was probably fixed from oral tradition in the ***** century, but it tells of events that might have happened five hundred years ago. It gives a unique insight in the thought and life of the ending Bronze Age, for it describes or at least mentions much of everyday life. The ancients valued poppy for the oil obtained from its seeds; yet the narcotic and analgetic power of opium was well known to Greek medicine. Opium as a drug is a comparatively young development in Europe. Today, poppy oil is an unusual speciality and is produced only in small quantities; most common is a cold-pressed quality suited for salads (see sesame about vegetable oils in general). Poppy farmers in Western Europe are faced by numerous legal restrictions designed to prevent the production of opium. Yet, in Western European climate, poppy plants do not develop much alkaloids, and any opium produced there would be of comparably minor quality. In Europe, poppy seeds are mostly used for confectionary, similar to the use of sesame and nigella in the Near East. Stuffings based on poppy are sometimes found in croissants and the Austrian desserts known as strudel. Most of these recipes originated in Bohemia (today&#**9;s Czech Republic), whence they came to Austria in the times of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Another great example for this sweet and high-calorie cooking tradition are Germknödel, steamed yeast dumplings stuffed with a very concentrated kind of plum jam (Powidl) and served with powdered sugar, ground poppy seeds and molten butter.