The nutty flavor and satisfying crunch of poppy seeds are traditionally enjoyed in salad dressings, cakes and spice blends. The tiny seeds are great sprinkled on breads, crackers, pretzels and rolls, and sprinkled on salads and noodles.

Botanical name: Papaver somniferum L.

A member of the Papaveracea family, the poppy is an erect annual with pink or purple flowers and waxy leaves. The plant grows to about 5 feet in height and produces seeds that are tiny, kidney-shaped, and slate blue. It takes 900,000 of them to reach the scale's one-pound mark!
The genus name Papaver is Latin for poppy plant. Somiferum, the species name of the poppy, is derived from the Latin somnus (sleep) and ferrus (to bring), a reference to the sleep-bearing properties of the plant. (That was a field of poppies that caused Dorothy to slumber in The Wizard of Oz.)

Poppy plants have been cultivated for over 3,000 years. The ancients used poppy seed oil and made honey cakes (similar to baklava) with the seeds. Much like bakers today, the Romans also used the little blue seeds to decorate breads. Ancient Egyptians used poppy seeds as a condiment, while the ancient Greeks harvested the seeds to use in cakes and to serve Olympic athletes who needed some added vigor. The poppy seeds you use in your kitchen come from the same plant as opium. While the seeds won't have a narcotic effect (they have a low alkaloid content; the drug is prepared from the high-alkaloid unripe plant capsules), it is true that eating enough of them could cause you to fail a drug test.
In the near East and Orient, the poppy has long been grown for its narcotic properties. In the 19th century, the plant was the focus of the Opium Wars, and throughout the century it was used as a cure-all tincture.

Suggested Uses:
Enjoy the nutty flavor and tiny crunch of these blue-black seeds on breads, pretzels and muffins as well as salads and noodles. Fold them into cake batters, or grind them to stir into sauces. They're often enjoyed in Turkish and Jewish cooking and in European croissants, stuffings, and confectionaries. In Austria, poppy seeds are found on strudels and in Japan they're added to spice mixtures. Northern Indian cooks sometimes grind the seed and use it to thicken sauces.

Storage: These seeds like other dried seeds may germinate under proper conditions. However, herb and spice seeds sold by Frontier are not intended for sprouting purposes and in many cases will not germinate. These seeds have a high oil content, and although the oil is relatively stable while the seed is intact, refrigeration will slow the oxidation process and prolong the life of the seed.