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Description & Distribution
Indigenous to the Mediteranean countries and
central Asia, Poppy is now cultivated mainly in Holland, Poland, Iran,
Turkey, Argentina and India. Cultivation of poppy is India in confined to
a few regions of Uttar Pradesh and Punjab.
Poppy is the dried seed
of an annual herb that grows to about 1-2 metres in ht. The leaves are
large, white, light pink or purple. The fruits are egg-shaped white in
color and filled with seeds.
Opium is obtained from the latex of
the mature fruits by making incisions on them. No opium reaches the
ovaries and hence the seeds are themselves not narcotic. The seeds
extracted from the dried poppy fruits are very small, about 1 mm
long.
Poppy seeds are sweet and mild, with a nutty flavour and
aroma.
Harvesting Season : September
Marketing Season : October
to November
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