Poppy seeds. Part of the poppy plant.
The poppy flowers are so
pretty. We had them in our garden when
I was a child. I liked shaking the seed
pod and watching zillions of very tiny seeds fall out of the pod. I am not sure whether the poppy plants are
annuals or perennials but they always grew in the same spot year after
year. Maybe it had something to do with
my shaking the seed pod and watching the
seed fall out. The scientific name for
the opium poppy is Papaver somniferum. That is a picture of one below.
Here is a description of the
plant from the internet.
"Papaver somniferum, commonly known as the opium poppy,
or breadseed poppy, is a species of flowering plant in the family
Papaveraceae.It is the species of plant from which opium
and poppy
seeds are derived and is a valuable ornamental plant, grown in gardens."
The white sticky milky latex
sap of the seed pods is the source of opium which is the source of heroin.
So where am I going with all
of this? I use to be badged by a nuclear power plant.
I was under their random drug
testing program. I was told that poppy
seeds could cause a positive result on the drug testing and so it might be a
good idea not to eat anything with poppy
seeds like rolls, bread, muffins, etc. to avoid possible problems with the drug
testing. So for many years I didn't eat
anything with poppy seeds in it or on it.
Here is an excerpt from the internet.
False positive drug tests
"Although
the drug opium is
produced by "milking" latex from the unripe fruits ("seed
pods") rather than from the seeds, all parts of the plant can contain or
carry the opium alkaloids, especially morphine and codeine. This
means that eating foods (e.g., muffins) that contain poppy seeds can result in a false
positive for opiates in a drug test. However the results provided will not be
the same for someone who uses opiates."
So now that I am retired and
not under the drug testing program I can now eat rolls and breads with poppy
seeds because they are no longer verboten (except for sesame seeds on muffins). I am sure that you have seen this on the
internet already. What is the size of a
tick?
I know, eating muffins with
poppy seeds on them may never be the same.
Have a great day anyway. Lew