This is the time of year when most of Central and Eastern Europe gets high on poppy seeds. Or does it? I almost forgot: it’s no longer legal.
I have told you about our obsession with walnuts, now it’s time to talk about poppy seeds. The reason is that the good old varieties have disappeared from the markets and supermarket shelves.
In 2021, Regulation (EU) 2021/2142 as regards maximum levels of opium alkaloids in certain foodstuffs has radically changed a beautiful tradition, although consuming poppy seeds all my life once or twice a year made me addicted to nothing but the magic of homemade cakes.
How it’s been
Every year during Christmas, I could enjoy a delicious portion of bejgli, a pastry that originates in Silesia and has been known in Europe since the 14th century. Bejgli is a dough roll filled with ground walnut or poppy seeds. Since both my grandmum and my mum have passed away, I make it myself, I refuse to buy it from a store. There are certain rules I am supposed to keep so I can call my poppy seed roll a bejgli, but there are no rules in my kitchen.
My version is closer to what the English would call sweet bread or brioche. I fill it generously so the dough remains soft and moist even days after it is made. The very strict recipe calls for a 1:1 ratio of dough to filling, but sometimes the filling almost eats up the dough, which is how I like it.
The effect
Eating cakes or pastries filled with the good old poppy seed varieties gave your tummy a warm hug and if you ate more than what would have been enough, it helped you fall asleep easily that night. I have never experienced any adverse effects. I stayed away from addictive substances all my life unless they were called dark chocolate, so when I heard about this legislation, I was shocked.
Poppy seeds themselves don’t contain opium.
„The opium alkaloids are found in the poppy latex, which is a milky white fluid that exudes from the pod when it is cut. Harvesters, who wish to increase opium alkaloids contents on the poppy seed coats, make cuts in the opium pods before they ripen which allows the latex to seep onto the seed coats. Individuals wishing to extract the opium alkaloid content from unwashed poppy seeds, use the seeds to create a tea, which contains sufficient amounts of alkaloids to produce psychoactive effects.” – states the Drug Enforcement Administration of the U.S. Department of Justice.
In no way I support substance abuse and I know that there are traditions that must go. Such tradition is domestic abuse which significantly increases during Christmas and has been with us since written sources emerged. It very rarely comes with legal consequences. Besides, I am allowed to drink my way to a detox clinic on New Year’s Eve and I can smoke my lungs away if I please without legal repercussions. I’m also free to buy processed food filled with things no one sane would deem suitable for human consumption and those who produce such ingredients, are heavily subsidised by governments and hardly ever opposed by health authorities.
In contrast, I am not allowed to make a cake from 40 dkg of edible poppy seeds in my kitchen which is enough for a family of five and safe for children to eat. I say edible because the poppy seed varieties available now have a bitter taste and not much else. I can still make a delicious dessert with it but I have to use a lot more sugar than before, which is much more harmful than the poppy itself.
Is there no other solution?
„Poppy seeds intended for culinary use are typically obtained mainly from poppy cultivars bred to accumulate lower amounts of opium alkaloids.” – says a 2022-study on opium alkaloids, which suggests that the varieties I consumed since childhood were acceptable.
Poppy seeds can become contaminated with alkaloids during harvesting when particles of dust from the straw adhere to the seeds but by washing the seeds, the alkaloid level significantly decreases. Wouldn’t it be more beneficial to pay attention to the processing of the seeds if that comes with cross-contamination, or to the producers who intend to use their harvest for other purposes and manipulate the pods?
The sad consequences
No more warm hugs to the tummy and substance abuse has not decreased either.
