Poppyseed oil (also poppy seed oil and poppy oil) is an edible oil obtained from

poppy seed Poppy seed is an oilseed obtained from the opium poppy ('' Papaver somniferum''). The tiny, kidney-shaped seeds have been harvested from dried seed pods by various civilizations for thousands of years. It is still widely used in many countri ...

s (specifically

seed A seed is an embryonic plant enclosed in a protective outer covering, along with a food reserve. The formation of the seed is a part of the process of reproduction in seed plants, the spermatophytes, including the gymnosperm and angiosper ...

s of ''

Papaver somniferum ''Papaver somniferum'', commonly known as the opium poppy or breadseed poppy, is a species of flowering plant in the family Papaveraceae. It is the species of plant from which both opium and poppy seeds are derived and is also a valuable orname ...

'', the

opium poppy ''Papaver somniferum'', commonly known as the opium poppy or breadseed poppy, is a species of flowering plant in the family Papaveraceae. It is the species of plant from which both opium and poppy seeds are derived and is also a valuable ornam ...

). Poppy seeds yield 45–50% oil. Like poppy seeds, poppyseed oil is highly palatable, high in

vitamin E Vitamin E is a group of eight fat soluble compounds that include four tocopherols and four tocotrienols. Vitamin E deficiency, which is rare and usually due to an underlying problem with digesting dietary fat rather than from a diet low in vi ...

, and has no

narcotic The term narcotic (, from ancient Greek ναρκῶ ''narkō'', "to make numb") originally referred medically to any psychoactive compound with numbing or paralyzing properties. In the United States, it has since become associated with opiates ...

properties. Poppy seeds are especially high in

tocopherol Tocopherols (; TCP) are a class of organic chemical compounds (more precisely, various methylated phenols), many of which have vitamin E activity. Because the vitamin activity was first identified in 1936 from a dietary fertility factor in rat ...

s other than vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol). Compared to other

vegetable oil Vegetable oils, or vegetable fats, are oils extracted from seeds or from other parts of fruits. Like animal fats, vegetable fats are ''mixtures'' of triglycerides. Soybean oil, grape seed oil, and cocoa butter are examples of seed oils, or f ...

s, poppyseed oil has a moderate amount of

phytosterol Phytosterols are phytosteroids, similar to cholesterol, that serve as structural components of biological membranes of plants. They encompass plant sterols and stanols. More than 250 sterols and related compounds have been identified. Free phyt ...

s: higher than

soybean oil Soybean oil (British English: soyabean oil) is a vegetable oil extracted from the seeds of the soybean (''Glycine max''). It is one of the most widely consumed cooking oils and the second most consumed vegetable oil. As a drying oil, processe ...

and

peanut oil Peanut oil, also known as groundnut oil or arachis oil, is a vegetable oil derived from peanuts. The oil usually has a mild or neutral flavor but, if made with roasted peanuts, has a stronger peanut flavor and aroma. It is often used in Americ ...

, lower than safflower oil,

sesame oil Sesame oil is an edible vegetable oil derived from sesame seeds. The oil is one of the earliest-known crop-based oils. Worldwide mass modern production is limited due to the inefficient manual harvesting process required to extract the oil. ...

wheat germ oil Wheat germ oil is extracted from the germ of the wheat kernel, which makes up only 2.5% by weight of the kernel Wheat germ oil is particularly high in octacosanol - a 28-carbon long-chain saturated primary alcohol found in a number of different ...

corn oil Corn oil (North American) or maize oil (British) is oil extracted from the germ of corn (maize). Its main use is in cooking, where its high smoke point makes refined corn oil a valuable frying oil. It is also a key ingredient in some margar ...

, and rice bran oil. It has little or no odor and a pleasant taste, and it is less likely than some other oils to become rancid.

Uses

The oil is sometimes used as a cooking oil; it is also used for moisturizing skin. Its primary use, however, is in the manufacture of paints, varnishes, and soaps. Poppyseed oil is a drying oil. In

oil painting Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments with a medium of drying oil as the binder. It has been the most common technique for artistic painting on wood panel or canvas for several centuries, spreading from Europe to the rest ...

, the most popular oil for binding pigment, thinning paint, and varnishing finished paintings is

linseed oil Linseed oil, also known as flaxseed oil or flax oil (in its edible form), is a colourless to yellowish oil obtained from the dried, ripened seeds of the flax plant (''Linum usitatissimum''). The oil is obtained by pressing, sometimes followed by ...

. Walnut oil and poppyseed oil are also favored by oil painters, though each oil is used for a different purpose. Poppyseed oil is used especially in white paints. Up through the late 19th century, when these oils became available prepared in tubes, painters tended to prepare them by hand. While poppyseed oil does not leave the unwanted yellow tint for which linseed oil is known, it is much weaker in the test of time than the contemporary linseed oil. Poppyseed oil dries much more slowly (5–7 days) than linseed oil (3–5 days). For this reason poppyseed oil should not be used for a ground layer of a painting, and linseed oil should not be painted over a layer of poppyseed oil. Poppyseed oil is the basis of lipiodol, a radiocontrast agent used in medical radiology.

History

An early 20th century industry manual states that while the opium poppy was grown extensively in

Eurasia Eurasia (, ) is the largest continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. Primarily in the Northern and Eastern Hemispheres, it spans from the British Isles and the Iberian Peninsula in the west to the Japanese archipelag ...

, most of the world production of poppyseed oil occurred in France and Germany, from poppy seeds imported from other countries. From 1900 to 1911, France and Germany together produced on the order of 60,000,000 kilograms per year. At that time, poppyseed oil was used primarily to dress salads and frequently was adulterated with

and hazelnut oil to improve the taste of oil from stored (rancid) seeds. Poppyseed oil was used to adulterate

olive oil Olive oil is a liquid fat obtained from olives (the fruit of ''Olea europaea''; family Oleaceae), a traditional tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin, produced by pressing whole olives and extracting the oil. It is commonly used in cooking: ...

and peach kernel oil.

References

* Rosenblum, E. E. (2009). "poppy". ''Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia''. Retrieved 14 July 2009, from Grolier Onlin

{{fatsandoils Poppy seeds Cooking oils Vegetable oils Painting materials

Uses

History

See also

References