Papaver

[istanbulin]

Last day I saw this thread, it is related with another issue but people started to talk about poppy there

The widely grown poppy variety for pharmaceutical purposes is Papaver somniferum (opium poppy). There's 50 known variety of Papaveraceae (like P. rhoeas (corn poppy) which is nearly distrubuted all over the planet Earth and can be found in fields etc.) and 30 of them growing in Turkey naturally. UN considers Turkey and India as the traditional growers but there're 4 more countries can legally grow this plant; Australia, France, Spain and Hungary. Nearly 50 % of the legal world production is carried out by Turkish farmers.


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Papaver somniferum and Papaver rhoeas (respectively).


Other Papaver varieties are grown for ornamental purposes in gardens. They really have beautiful flowers.
But also seeds of the plant is very nutritious and palatable, and has no alkaloids. Seed contains 45-54 % oil which is high in vitamin E. It also contains 20-30 % protein. Actually tobacco seeds and seed oil are edible too, there's no nicotine in tobacco seed (oil content of the tobacco seeds is around 30 %).
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A pinch of blue poppy seeds.



Because of this properties of poppy seed people generally use whole seeds in pastry here. I saw a lof of people using it but don't know if Americans are widely using.


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A close up photo of the seeds on a bagel.



I'm posting some photos of pastries prepared with poppy seed.


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There's also another traditional beverage prepared with Papaver rhoeas petalscalled "gelincik şerbeti" (corn poppy syrup). Papaver rhoeas petals have an alkoloid called Rhoeadine which has a mild sedative and mild antitussive effect. Totally safe if you don't drink at least a gallon of this syrup

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If anybody interested in this syrup, I may write the recipe of it here. Never try to prepare it without a recipe because there's a very important tip about it.

 

[johnlee1933]

Your pics of poppy seed rolls duplicate precisely the "hard rolls" most commonly seen every day in the grocery and bakery stores. Poppy and sesame seed rolls are most popular. They are a breakfast food but the most popular use is for large luncheon sandwiches whose fillings range from hamburgers to tuna fish salad and everything else you can imagine.

Heroin and cocaine used to be "over the counter", non prescription drugs in the 18 and early 1900's here in the USA. Perceived by the government as hugely bad they are the backbone of a billion dollar industry. I am just guessing but my guess is that any move to legalize them again here would have the American Medical Association and even more from the cartels that import and sell them as opposition. As usual they are missing a huge tax revenue.

Most people don't know it but Coca-Cola had cocaine in it till the early 1900's I think it was outlawed around 1915.

Trying to legislate human behavior has never been very successful.

 

[leverhead]

I thought the Opium poppy had a white flower. I've seen some poppies growing here, mostly as ornamentals. Some growing wild though where there might have been a house at one time. Poppy seeds on bread and rolls is pretty common here, I like them. gelincik şerbeti sounds interesting, but would probably make someone fail a pee test that has become a popular standard here to judge people for any particular usefulness.

 

[skychaser]

Papaver somniferum (opium poppy) is also known as the Bread Seed Poppy. Next to tobacco, poppies are the number 2 thing we grow. P. Somniferum can be found in a huge range of colors and there are dozens of different varieties. All of them will produce "opium" and contain morphine and codeine as their primary alkaloids. All parts of the plant contain alkaloids. Seeds contains tiny amounts but still have enough to cause you to flunk a drug test. The test is very sensitive and will detect very small amounts in your system. About 100 times less than it takes to get "high". It is legal to grow somniferum poppies here in the US as long as all you do is grow them for flowers or seed. If you milk them or process the pods or straw in any way, you can expect a visit from your local law enforcement officials. Poppies have been used as a pain killer and sleep aid for thousands of years. Usually 3-5 pods are crushed and steeped into a tea.
Here is a few of the ones we grow.
http://northwoodseeds.com/danish_flag.htm
http://northwoodseeds.com/scarlet.htm
http://northwoodseeds.com/pepperbox.htm

If you want to see some really cool poppies, check out http://onestoppoppyshop.com They specialize in poppies.

We also grow P. Rhoeas and P. Orientalis. The latter is a perennial and the most common ones you see here are a bight orange color. P. Rhoeas has several varieties and we grow the Shirley Double Mix. They are some of the most awesome flowers of any we grow. The range of colors, shapes, and textures is amazing. Shirleys are probably my favorite flower.
http://northwoodseeds.com/shirley.htm

Great post Emre, as always.

 

[SmokesAhoy]

i live in the northeast, there is no way i'm growing poppy up here, the opiate issue is out of hand, if the cops didnt bust me the human trash would flock here.

this is definitely one of the nicest looking flowers though if i went in for growing flowers. maybe if civilization ends grow a few as a painkiller but holy crap nothing short of that, they scare the bejeezus out of me.

i think the difference between legal grow and illegal class 2 manufacture is simply knowledge of what it is that you are growing in the narcotic sense.

ugh, interesting post though, just really weigh your decision out if you plan to grow it...

 

[istanbulin]

Sky, you're right all off them produce alkoloids but most of them don't have any commercial value. I meant that the growing them for their alkoloids is illegal, of course you may grow them for ornamental or for culinary purposes (I don't know your laws). Actually seed never contains any alkoloids in its structure (sometimes trace amount of), but because of contamination while harvesting they may contain more than trace amount. Consumption of foods containing poppy seeds that are contaminated with alkaloids may lead to a measurable concentration in urine. But there're legal upper limits abuout alkoloid content of the seeds in every country which is generally controlled while buying/importing/exporting etc. (trust the USDA ). But I have no idea which alkoloids are detectable with the urine test. I think a single test can't determine all alkoloids available. So I've no fears about drinking corn poppy syrup which contains an innocent alkaloid, and also I love the poppyseed dessert LOL

 

[skychaser]

No doubt, the poppies grown for their alkaloids have been bred to contain a much higher content than ones selected and bred for their colors and shapes alone. I definitely understand your concerns though Smokes. We have the same problems here that you do. Someone robs a drug store twice a week for Oxycontin. But you need a lab and a wizard of oz sized field if you want to make the drugs desired by junkies. The raw morphine and codeine in the poppy just doesn't do it for them. And the other alkaloids in the poppy aren't active in the human body without altering them in a lab. There was a guy in Seattle who wrote a book a few years back called the opium eater. (i think that was the title) It was about how he fed his addiction with dried poppies he bought in flower shops used in flower arrangements. They are usually the Gigantum variety and look like our Pepperbox's do. You can buy them in bulk quantities on line if you want to. I don't think it's really much of a replacement for the hard core drugs most addicts want though. Otherwise we all would have heard about it and no one would be selling dried poppy pods in flower shops or on line.

I looked into the legalities pretty thoroughly before we started growing them. The USDA agent who inspects my fields each year for viruses has seen them many times. We grow some of them in plain sight of the road where 10k people a day pass by. No problems. No visits from the cops or the junkies so far.

 

[istanbulin]

...Someone robs a drug store twice a week for Oxycontin....

He/she will never do it again http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/17/business/fda-bars-generic-oxycontin.html?ref=oxycontindrug&_r=1&

 

[Seanz]

Nice post I used to grow Papaver somniferum. Lovely plant with a wide range of colour In the flower.
They grow wild around the South Island lots of people blame the Chinese goldminers for spreading it.
I used to smoke the white dragon. Now that I now longer indulge in illict ethnogens I no longer have them in the garden, though the seeds are awseome for use in cooking and I really enjoy the flowers. The whole Papaver genus are an awesome plant.
That corn poppy syrup sounds delicious..

 

[jekylnz]

i live in the northeast, there is no way i'm growing poppy up here, the opiate issue is out of hand, if the cops didnt bust me the human trash would flock here..

I thought there was so much H in the states that people would .nt bother with having to bleed and convert opium poppies
It's legal to grow them in .nz but the same as states if ur found with cuts in them ur in the sh@t.
There's quite a few ova here that started out taking poppies when they can't find weed...but then find out how much more addictive it is and end up on the methadone for the rest of their lives

 

[jekylnz]

Actually u can make it from one or to plants and abit of acetal anhydrIde.all u need to do is make the morphine base a airated base before adding the acid .then reflux cook the acid off to change the molecules.it can all be done in a spoon with abit of tinfoil in ten minutes ...that's it.people do it here cause they can't get heroin .I watched a guy do it once so it's not as complicated as people think.if a druggy needs a drug they will find a way!!

 

[jekylnz]

I have a friend that had cancer in his leg and was put on morphine ..which he then became addictied to,then had to be put on the methadone ..and was treated like a junkie..after no fault of his own,also have known o people that have been in car accidents and ended up in the same predicament...sometimes the word junkie isn't something u can just put on people when u don't know what got them there

I think everyone has to look at things with more of an open mind ..rather than what some government says..legal or not ..are our forefathers still criminals now for consuming alcohol at the time when it was illegal !?and if u take something in a country we it is legal does it make it right..or just make u feel better about taking it.
Everything has its up sides and down...and to much of a good thing makes it everyday shyte
And everything in moderation and all that..but I just think we are told what is right when we need to assess every side of things...

 

[Boboro]

I think all drug laws are stupid. They have made the U.S. in to a po lice state. I think The laws caused the crack and meth problem. The war on drugs is a war on our young ppl. And if I want good allergy pills I have to go to a doc. So I got crappy pills that dont work.

 

[jekylnz]

The countries that have legalized everything don't have high drug problems cause the youth dont want something legal,they want something "bad"or illegal.tell someone that trying to rebel they cant have something,theyll just want it more.
most fathers learn this in the first couple of years wen u have kids

 

[TheOtherOne]

They can have a number of different colors. Purple and white is standard.