same plant whose immature seed capsules are
cut to collect the latex called opium, a
mixture of morphine, heroin, codeine, and
other related alkaloid drugs. The seeds are
harvested from the capsules after the latex
flow has stopped. They may carry traces of
opiate alkaloids as well, not enough to have an
effect on the body, but enough to cause
positive results in drug tests after the
consumption of a poppy-flavored cake or
pastry.
Poppy seeds are tiny; it takes 3,300 to
make a gram, 90,000 an ounce, 1–2 million a
pound. The seed is 50% oil by weight. Poppy
seeds sometimes have a bitter, peppery taste,
the result of damage to the seeds, which mixes
oil with enzymes and generates free fatty
acids. The striking blue color of some poppy
seeds is apparently an optical illusion.
Microscopic examination demonstrates that
the actual pigment layer of the seed is brown.
Two layers above it, however, is a layer of
barry
(Barry)
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