Poppy Seeds
Tiny blue-grey seeds with a nutty, faintly sweet flavor that somehow make a plain bagel feel like breakfast worth waking up for.
What It Is
Poppy seeds come from the same plant as the opium poppy, but the seeds themselves contain none of the compounds the plant is famous for. They have been used in kitchens across Central Europe, the Middle East, and South Asia for centuries, pressed into oil, ground into fillings, and scattered across breads and pastries. The flavor is mild and slightly toasty, and the texture is what most cooks are really after: that gentle crunch on a roll or muffin top.
They show up in both sweet and savory cooking with equal ease, which is rarer than it sounds.
What To Do
Sprinkle them over bread dough, bagels, or dinner rolls before baking. Stir them into lemon poppy seed muffin or pancake batter. For a Central European-style filling, grind them and combine with honey or sugar and a little lemon zest to spread inside a rolled pastry. In Indian cooking, they are soaked and ground into a paste that thickens sauces and adds body.
Toast them dry in a skillet for a minute or two to bring out more nuttiness before adding to salad dressings or noodle dishes. Store in a cool, dark spot or in the freezer. Their natural oils go rancid faster than most spices.
