Poppy seed is an oilseed obtained from the opium poppy (Papaver somniferum). The tiny kidney-shaped seeds have been harvested from dried seed pods by various civilizations for thousands of years. The seeds are used, whole or ground, as an ingredient in many foods, and they are pressed to yield poppyseed oil.
Read more about Poppy Seed: History, Natural History, World Production, Use By Cuisine, Other Uses, Health Effects
Famous quotes containing the words poppy and/or seed:
“The young woman-smell
Of your poppy body
Rises to my brain as opium”
—Frank Marshall Davis (b. 1905)
“The return of the asymmetrical Saturday was one of those small events that were interior, local, almost civic and which, in tranquil lives and closed societies, create a sort of national bond and become the favorite theme of conversation, of jokes and of stories exaggerated with pleasure: it would have been a ready- made seed for a legendary cycle, had any of us leanings toward the epic.”
—Marcel Proust (1871–1922)