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Poppy Seeds (Post dana, Khuskhus)
Poppy Seeds Spices: Ground poppy seeds are common thickening agent in the Mughal cooking style of Northern India to obtain the sweet, mild, nutty flavor and aroma. Poppy's nutty taste is loved by the Japanese and used for the subtly flavored dishes typical for Japan. Indian poppy seeds are popularly used in carrot, pea and tomato dishes and in several types of dips. They are frequently sprinkled over chilled soups, savory pastry crusts, rolls and other bakery products. European cuisine are widely consumed in many parts of Central and Eastern Europe. The sugared, milled mature seeds are eaten with pasta, or they are boiled with milk and used as filling or topping on various kinds of sweet pastry. In Israeli cuisine, poppy seed hamantash is the main traditional food eaten at Purim. Indian cuisine In Indian cuisine, the white poppy seeds form part of the Indian spices. They are added for thickness, texture and also give added flavor to the recipe. Commonly used in the preparation of Kurma, ground poppy seed, along with coconut and other spices, are combined as the masala to be added at the end of the cooking step. In American cuisine, a thick, sweet poppy seed vinaigrette is used for dressing fresh fruit or salad.

Poppy Seeds Health: Properties and Action According to Ayurveda, sweet, mild astringent, and calming. It is an aphrodisiac, painkiller [analgesic, anodyne]., astringent, bactericidal, calmative, good for cough and conjunctivitis, balances hypertension. It cures pain during menstruation. It heals rheumatism, and fever. In India, Iran and Turkey poppy seeds are known as khaskhas or hashas and are considered highly nutritious, mostly added in dough while baking bread, and recommended for pregnant women and new mothers. In American cuisine, a thick, sweet poppy seed vinaigrette is used for dressing fresh fruit or salad. In Ayurveda, soaked poppy seeds are ground into a fine paste with milk and applied on the skin as a moisturizer. Western poppy syrup is an anodyne and expectorant. Eastern poppy is an anodyne and narcotic. Cough mixtures and syrups are also made from this variety, which is further used as a poultice with chamomile.

Description
Poppy seed is the dried seed of Papaver somniferum, an erect annual herb, 30-150 cm long with 0.5-1.5 cm thick stem. Stem is glabrous with thick waxy coating. Leaves are numerous, alternate, spreading horizontally, 15-25 cm long. Flowers are few, solitary, on a 10-15 cm long peduncle. Fruit is a capsule with waxy coating. Seeds are numerous, very small, white grey with an oily endosperm. Poppy is a self pollinated plant. The seed is the spice.

Origin and Distribution
The centre of origin of Poppy is the Western Mediterranean region of Europe and is cultivated in India, USSR, Egypt, Yugoslavia, Poland, Germany, the Netherlands, China, Japan, Argentina, Spain, Bulgaria, Hungary, and Portugal for its legal pharmaceutical use. It is also grown illegally for the narcotic trade in Burma, Thailand and Laos (Golden Triangle) and Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran (Golden Crescent).

Poppy is cultivated in temperate and sub-tropical region and requires well drained, highly fertile, light black cotton soil having good percentage of fine sand. In India it is a licensed crop since the latex of the mature fruit are collected for the production of opium, a narcotic substance.

USES

Poppy seed (Khas Khas) is used as food and as a source of fatty oil. It is widely used for culinary purposes. Because of its highly nutritive nature it is used in breads, cakes, cookies, pastries, curries, sweets and confectionary. Its seeds are demulcent and are used against constipation. The capsules are used as a sedative against irritant coughing and sleeplessness in the form syrup or extract.

Botanical name	Family name	Commercial part
Papaver somniferum L.	Papaveraceae	Seed

Indian Names
Hindi	: Kashash
Bengali	: Kashash
Gujarati	: Khuskhush
Kannada	: Khasksi
Malayalam	: Kashakasha
Marathi	: Khus khus
Punjabi	: Khush khush, Khas
Sanskrit	: Khasa, Khakasa
Tamil	: Gaehagesha kasakasa
Telugu	: Kasakasa, Gasagasla, Gasalu
Urdu	: Kashkash sufaid

Name in international languages

Spanish	: Adermidera
French	: Pavot
German	: Mohn
Swedish	: Valln
Arabic	: Khashkhash
Dutch	: Slaapbol
Italian	: Papavero
Portuguese	: Dormideira
Russian	: Mak
Japanese	: Keshi
Chinese	: Ying Shu
Further Reading: Sensory quality: Nutty and pleasant. Poppy seeds contain 40 to 50% of fatty oil, which is obtained by cold pressing in yields of only 12 to 18%. It is rich in unsaturated fatty acids (iodine index is 133 to 144): 60% linoleic acid, 30% oleic acid, 3% linolenic acid (triply unsaturated; essential for human nutrition) and less than 10% saturated fats.Among the volatile components of poppy seeds, aliphatic hydrocarbons and aldehydes have been reported. 2-Pentylfurane is a key aroma compound. The ancients valued poppy for the oil obtained from its seeds, which was put to culinary use. Ancient sweetmeats and cakes often contained poppy seeds, frequently together with almonds or sesame seeds. These sweets were usually slightly peppered, which is a characteristic feature of ancient Mediterranean cooking. The Austrian pastry known as Strudel (sometimes spelled shtrudel in English) consists of extremely thin, almost transparent, sheets of highly elastic dough (shaped and pulled by hand) enshrouding stuffings prepared with nuts, fresh cheese (Topfen) or fruits; poppy seeds are a very popular choice. Strudel is usually eaten dry; in our days, one sees it often served with a sweet vanilla sauce, which most Austrians consider an abomination. Common flavourings for the stuffing include lemon or orange zest (fresh or candied) and cinnamon. Another great example for Austrian sweet cuisine utilizing poppy seeds is Germknödel, a large yeast dumpling stuffed with a very concentrated kind of plum jam (Powidl). The dumplings are steamed and served with powdered sugar, ground poppy seeds and molten butter. The recipe was introduced to Austria from Bohemia, today’s Czech Republic, where the dumplings are known as kynuté knedlíky. Pastry stuffed with poppy seeds (Mohntaschen “poppy pockets”) are known in various Central and Eastern European countries; they are particularly associated with Yiddish baking (homentashn or montashn ). France has croissants with poppy stuffings. Poppy seeds are often sprinkled on the surface of pastries, particularly of the lye roll type, to develop a nutty flavour during the baking. Poppy oil, formerly an important foodstuff, is now a rare specialty and is produced only in small quantities; most common is a cold-pressed quality suited for salads. In Asia, poppy is also much cultivated, yet mostly not for culinary purposes, but for the production of opium. Yet in Asia poppy is not unknown for cooking, either. Ground poppy seeds are a common thickening agent in the Moghul cooking style of Northern India; a special crème-white variety was bred for light sauces. The cuisine of Bengal in North-East India often uses poppy, which harmonizes perfectly well with that lightly-flavoured cookind style. Poppy’s nutty taste is loved by the Japanese and used for the subtly flavoured dishes typical for Japan. The Japanese spice mixture shichimi togarashi contains poppy seeds.