[Sca-cooks] poppyseeds?

[Olwen the Odd]

> > They were certainly used as a medicinal:
> >
> > "Not poppy, nor mandragora,
> > Nor all the drowsy syrups of the world,
> > Shall ever medicine thee to that sweet sleep
> > Which thou owedst yesterday."
> >
> > Shakespeare - Othello, Sc. 3.
> >
> > - Doc
>
>Ah, but was that poppy seeds? The sap of the opium poppy was dried and
>concentrated and used as a painkiller/soporific in period (that's what
>morphine, codeine, and heroin are derived from- they're all "opiates"),
>which is what this seems to refer to, but I understand the seeds are simply
>a garnish and a flavoring, since they haven't any of the opiate compounds 
>in
>them.
>
>Saint Phlip,

My bet that was referring to the sap.  In the new world, at least, the home 
remedy opiate was/is prickly lettuce.  I recall getting it as a child when I 
broke my collar bone.
Olwen

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