Has anyone made poppy seed filling from scratch? I made nutrolls and a poppy seed roll

M

marilynfl

Moderator
for my friend last week and used canned SOLO filling for the poppy seed version.

I ABSOLUTELY HATED IT!

I warned her of my concerns, but my friend said that she ate the same stuff growing up so she'd be okay with it.

However, this is rankling my culinary nerves. I've got to make this right...but to be honest have no clue. My mom used the jarred stuff too--which probably explains WHY I never liked poppy seed rolls.

I don't even know where you buy bulk poppy seeds. All I've ever owned is the small spice jar size.

The attached recipe doesn't sound hard, but since the seed is so tiny to begin with, how do you know if it's processed enough?

This one sounds a little more interesting, but she used a spice grinder?? What's that?

Poppy Seed Filling (copied from JO COOKS blog)

1 cup poppy seeds

1/3 cup boiling water

1/4 cup ground almonds

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

zest of 1/2 a lemon

zest of 1/2 an orange

1.Using a spice grinder, grind the poppy seeds slowly, about 2 tbsp at a time and 10 seconds for each portion. Scoop out any that stick to the bottom of the grinder as you go. Add the poppy seeds to a medium size bowl and add the boiling water, and the rest of the poppy seed filling ingredients, stir and set aside.

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/220763/old-world-poppy-seed-roll/

 
Yes have made it. Before there was canned there was homemade

Marilyn, you can buy bulk poppy seed at almost any spice house. I get mine from Penzeys.

A spice grinder grinds spices like a coffee grinder grinds beans. There are specific grinders for spices but I use a small coffee grinder and use it only for spices. You must grind up the poppy seed and it is not easy.

But to me, the difference between canned and homemade is like the difference between canned apple pie filling and real apple pie filling.

 
Excellent. I have a small coffee grinder. What did you think of Jo's recipe (with citrus flavoring)?

Also, did you use your potica dough? After I baked and packaged and ship off the rolls, Bonnie mentioned that she used to love "unrolling" the dough to eat the filling, rather than biting across the whole slice.

I wish she had mentioned that earlier because my dough is rather thick, so she won't get as many rolls. It sounds like your recipe/method would come a lot closer to her food memory.

Her mom was Polish. Mine is Serbian. Not sure if that's the difference between what we grew up with.

 
My life became a whole lot easier when I learned to use a pastry

brush to clean out the grinder after using. It really gets into the crevices. Or a slice of bread works good too.

 
My mom and I used a small hand grinder, similar to hand cranked meat grinders.

In Hungary people used the same small hand crank grinder. Hungary was the country that was allowed to grow poppies for food and had to prove that it is one of the staples of Hungary by producing the largest number of recipes using poppies.

 
In addtion, I find processing some baking soda in the coffee grinder also helps to remove

odors. That's especially nice for the times I'm grinding curry and/or garam masala spices. Then a little brushing with a small kitchen-dedicated paint brush, or a bristled pastry brush, gets any residue out.

 
Baking soda is a brilliant idea! Some spices are very strong and I do

worry about it. Thanks Pat.

 
I know that this is no help, but I remember that in NYC there was a store called Lekvar by the ...

barrel.

And they did actually have barrels of homemade lekvah (prune butter)---also apricot and poppy.

Wonderful place for knives, pot, and even couscousieres.

 
Poppy seeds were illegal to bring into Saudi Arabia. I had to get

pretty creative sometimes just to get the things I wanted for cooking. And if we were having a party I tried to point out any food that had poppy seeds to any of the Pilots in case they might have a flight within a certain time period. They were always aware but I still pointed it out. Oh Saudi, Saudi, Saudi....I really don't miss ya…

 
Glad you tried it Marilyn- and I would try the poppy seed filling recipe

I've never used one with citrus in it but how could it be bad?

 
Thanks Pat! I tried some baking soda in my grinder, it worked well and the grinder smelled

nice and fresh afterwards.

 
Terrific! I'm happy to hear you also had good results, C1. Sometimes I do the

baking soda treatment with my grinder dedicated to coffee beans as the residual oils remaining in the grinder sometimes lend a stale coffee bean smell after being stored for a while and the baking soda treatment helps eliminate that.

 
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