Tiny, kidney-shaped seeds from opium poppies that have a mild, nutty flavor and are commonly used in baking and Eastern European cuisine. They're completely safe and non-narcotic when used culinarily.
From Old English 'popæg,' from Latin 'papaver.' Poppy seeds have been used in cooking for over 5,000 years, with archaeological evidence of culinary use in Switzerland and other parts of Europe dating to the Neolithic period.
It takes nearly a million poppy seeds to make just one pound, and they're harvested by shaking the dried seed pods like natural maracas! Despite coming from opium poppies, culinary poppy seeds are completely legal and safe - they're harvested from the outside of the seed pod before any alkaloids develop, though eating large quantities can sometimes cause false positives on drug tests.
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