# What is the point of poppy-seed cake? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 24, 2016, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-poppy-seed-cake/744072 "2016-01-24T08:09:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![MacCat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maccat/32/216_2.png) [@MacCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacCat)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2016, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-poppy-seed-cake/744072/21 "2016-01-25T20:55:27Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > So that you can avoid that trip to Africa to see the Bushmen Osteoporosis will accomplish the same thing… ---
**Author:** ![psychobunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/54ee81/32.png) [@psychobunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychobunny)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2016, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-poppy-seed-cake/744072/22 "2016-01-25T21:37:41Z")
The definitive purpose of poppy seeds is to add to lemon pound cake. ---
**Author:** ![swampspruce](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampspruce/32/261_2.png) [@swampspruce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampspruce)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2016, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-poppy-seed-cake/744072/23 "2016-01-25T22:11:16Z")
Or make poppy seed cake and slather with peanut butter icing like my MIL does. Yum! ---
**Author:** ![dwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwyr/32/363_2.png) [@dwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwyr)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2016, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-poppy-seed-cake/744072/24 "2016-01-25T23:52:44Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > This is not true. As Mythbusters proved. One poppy seed bagel was enough for Jaime to fail the drug test. One! Adam ate a poppy seed cake and failed the drug test 24 hours later. The drug testing companies say that they can weed out the poppy seed eaters but it just isn’t true. They are using at home cartridge tests produced by an unknown company and I doubt they’ve been trained in proper testing or Quality Control. What methodology do thest tests use? Is pH or specific gravity of the specimen a factor? This is a far cry from standardized testing by trained personnel using calibrated instrumentation in a medical laboratory. There can be some cross reaction issues with other drugs but the poppy seed thing is not true under those conditions in my laboratory. If you’re getting drug tested, make darn sure it’s through a reputable lab, not out of a box kit. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2016, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-poppy-seed-cake/744072/25 "2016-01-26T00:11:34Z")
[Snopes.](http://www.snopes.com/medical/drugs/poppyseed.asp) [USADA](http://www.usada.org/can-poppyseeds-cause-a-positive-drug-test/) > [@](#): > > The seed pod that contains opium also happens to contain the seeds (poppy seeds). While the seeds don’t contain morphine, during harvesting the seeds can become coated by, or absorb some of the opium extract. Most of the opium is removed from the seeds during processing (usually more than 90%), but in some cases, the poppy seeds sold for use in foods still have a significant amount of opium (and thus morphine) on them. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2016, 10:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-poppy-seed-cake/744072/26 "2016-01-27T10:13:20Z")
> [@FluffyBob](#): > > Does the OP perceive eating poppy seeds gives a mood lift, or is this pure conjecture on their part? I have never noticed such a thing and always assumed as others have posted that the amount of opiates were negligible to non existent. No, but I never perceived any particular pleasure from poppy seed fillings at all, so I’ve been educated here: apparently there are people who think they like the stuff. I guess it’s not one of those ethnic food conspiricies (like turkey) where some of you are eating the food once a year because it’s “traditional”. FWIW, I’ve read reports of people chewing a couple of pounds of poppy seed a day (just normal stuff from the shop), and it was accepted that the reason was addiction, so it’s not impossible. And poppy-seed tea from decorative dried seed-pods is addictive too, but I don’t know if the method includes mashing up the pod, or just using the seeds. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2016, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-poppy-seed-cake/744072/27 "2016-01-27T10:21:08Z")
> [@dwyr](#): > > They are using at home cartridge tests produced by an unknown company and I doubt they’ve been trained in proper testing or Quality Control. What methodology do thest tests use? Is pH or specific gravity of the specimen a factor? This is a far cry from standardized testing by trained personnel using calibrated instrumentation in a medical laboratory. There can be some cross reaction issues with other drugs but the poppy seed thing is not true under those conditions in my laboratory. If you’re getting drug tested, make darn sure it’s through a reputable lab, not out of a box kit. They used multiple tests both purchased and lab. Every single one came back positive initially. I will add that the lab test tested negative after the first round. The home test continued to test positive even 24 hours after consumtion. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2016, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-poppy-seed-cake/744072/28 "2016-01-27T10:58:09Z")
[The truncated version of the segment on-line shows only one home drug test used.](http://www.discovery.com/tv-shows/mythbusters/videos/poppy-seed-drug-test-minimyth/) But the actual segment used both home and lab and more than one test was taken at different time intervals. But-- I may have some details wrong since I remembered them only eating a regular amount of poppy-laced foods and clearly they ate very large amounts of the food. Also, look how young and trim Jaime and Adam were! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-poppy-seed-cake/744072.md?page=1)