Poppy (Papaver somniferum L.)

Opium poppy flower www.rz.uni-karlsruhe.de

Poppy is an ancient cultigen; it is mentioned in the Ilias [Ἰλιάς], an epic ascribed to the legendary Greek poet Homeros [Ὅμερος]. The Ilias is, together with the con­temporary Odysseia [Ὀδυσσεία], by far the oldest European poetry and was probably fixed from oral tradition in the 8.th 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 Homeric epics are full of details of preclassic Greece — yet nutrition is quite neglected. Several kinds of cereals and breads are mentioned, but most amazingly, fish never appears on the table. One gets the impression that Bronze Age warriors were most fond of meats: dainymenoi krea t’ aspeta kai methy hedy [δαινύμενοι κρέα τ’ ἄσπετα καὶ μέθυ ἡδύ] feasting on abundant flesh and sweet wine and krea amph’ obeloisin peirein optan te periphradeos [κρέα ἀμφ’ ὀβελοῖσιν πείρειν ὀπτᾶν τε περιφραδέως] put meat on spits and roast it carefully are phrases the poet repeatedly chooses to describe the numerous feasts. The phrase methy hedy sweet wine is linguistically interesting, because both words derive from roots meaning sweet, but yet they are not akin to each other; see bear’s garlic and licorice for further explanations.

Flowering poppy plants

Some poppy plants develop reddish flowers instead of the usual bluish purple

Poppy plant with flower

Besides poppy, Homer mentions several other food plants: The most frequent references go to olives (olive oil, elaion [ἐλαίον] and olive tree, elaia [ἐλαία]), and even onion has an emergence as foodstuff (krommyon [κρόμμυον], see also bear’s garlic). Furthermore, a plant named selinon [σέλινον] appears which translators identify either as celery or parsley. The hues of Dawn (the goddess Eos [Ἠῶς]) are compared both with rose flowers (rhodo­daktylos [ῥοδο­δάκτυλος] rosy-fingered) and with saffron threads (kroko­peplos [κροκό­πεπλος] saffron-robed).

Lastly, in the Odysseia there is mention of an enigmatic plant moly [μῶλυ], which is used as a protection against evil magic powers. The word is sometimes speculated to mean garlic or a close relative; but the most common name of garlic in Classical Greek is skorodon [σκόροδον]. Others think it might have been snowdrop (Galanthus nivalis), whose genus name means milk flower, quite in accord with Homer’s description: galakti de eikelon anthos [γάλακτι δὲ εἴκελον ἄνθος] yet the flower (was) like milk.

Homer’s influ­ence for the further cultural devel­opment of Europe is unques­tioned. When, approxi­mately in Homer’s lifetime, Greek culture rose to new glory with its sport festivals (see bay leaves about the Olympic Games), its poets and philosophers, the Greeks considered the events described in the Ilias and the Odysseia as belonging to their own great past. During the largest part of antiquity, Homer was called the divine poet. Interest in ancient poetry declined after the fall of the Roman Empire, but more than a millennium later, during the European Renais­sance, the educated class again began to read Homer. The interest in classic antiquity culminated in the excavation of the stage of Homer’s Ilias, ancient Troia, by H. Schliemann at the archeological site known as Hisarlık.

Some poppy plants develop reddish flowers instead of the usual bluish purple

Although Homer is no longer taught in school, quotations from his work have survived even in today’s vernacular: So we speak of Homeric laughter (used to stimulate the lust for battle), of winged words (epea pteroenta [ἔπεα πτερόεντα]: words designed to fly to the interlocutor) and who has not ever heard of Skylla [Σκύλλα] and Charybdis [Χάρυβδις], two evils only one of which can be avoided?

Poppy plant with flower

The ancients valued poppy for the oil obtained from its seeds, which was put to culinary use. Ancient Greek physicians also knew about the narcotic and analgesic power of opium; however, Medieval European medicine did not use opium, partly because of religious bias against pain-reducing agents. Opium and its derivatives as illegal and addictive drugs are a comparatively young development in Europe.

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 (see also silphion on ancient Roman cuisine). The recipes moved from Rome to Byzantium, whence they entered the cuisines of Islâmic states in the Near East. An example is Turkish baklava (Greek baklava [μπακλαβά], Arabic baqlava [بقلاوة]), a mixture of honey and nuts wrapped in fillo [φύλλο] leaves. Its predecessors can be traced back to pre-Hellenistic Greece.

Austrian poppy field www.mohndorf.at

By trans­mission of the Ottoman Turks, the Near Eastern recipes entered Eastern Europe (Bulgaria, Hungary) and finally arrived in Austria during the Austro–Hungarian Empire (Habsburg empire). Still today, sweet foods like pastry (Mehlspeisen, literally flour foods) are typical for Austrian cuisine, and are often even served as a main course.

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. Many stuffings contain also raisins. In Hungary, there are savoury types of Strudel, e. g., with a paprika-flavoured cabbage stuffing (káposztás rétes), which have also been transferred to the Eastern parts of Austria.

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). Germ means yeast in Austria, although this is not standard German. 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.

Poppy plant, flowering

Poppy (plant with close to ripe capsules)

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 [המנטאַשן] or montashn [מאָנטאַשן]). 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. This usage paral­lels that of sesame and nigella seeds in the Middle East.

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 (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 alkaloid content and any opium produced there would be of comparably minor quality.

In Asia, poppy is also much cultivated, yet mostly not for culinary purposes, but for the production of opium. Actually, the infamous Golden Triangle located at the border between Thailand, Burma and Laos is not one of the most important production areas, since better alkaloid yields are archived at higher altitude. Hill tribes in these three coun­tries and also in Viet­nam and China use opium as the single tradi­tionaly luxury their hard life per­mits; the intro­duction of opium to ethnic Chinese or Viet­namese is, how­ever, a result of the colonial era and parti­cularly due to French and British politics. Other than in communi­ties with a long tradition of opium smoking, the poison had fatal con­sequences in both Vietnam and China.

Poppy (plant with close to ripe capsules)

In China, the British won the two Opium Wars (ya pian zhan zheng [鸦片战争]) (1840–42 and 1856–1860) and were granted the right to import opium to the Middle Kingdom; thus, they had both immediate profit and built up a large number of officials materially and mentally dependent of England and its dealers. The obvious consequence, large-scale corruption, accelerated the downfall of the Chinese Empire. In Vietnam, the French drew enormous profits from their monopolies on opium, salt and alcohol (starting around 1890) and kept the nobility loyal to France by generous supplies 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 (see onion and black cumin); 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 (see also nigella). 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 (see Sichuan pepper) contains poppy seeds.