Poppy seeds are tiny, deep blue or black seeds used in cooking. Hundreds of tiny seeds are found in each seed pod of the poppy.
Although used by the Egyptians before 1500, it was the Dutch people who developed one species of the poppy plant which gives the walnut-flavored seed used today. The seeds do not contain narcotics.
Poppy seeds are used in baking and flavoring vegetable dishes, salads, and sauces. A gray poppy seed called maw is found in commercial birdseed mixtures.
