Poppy Seed Quandary

Part of setting up our Ucluelet house again, is getting everything unpacked, restocked and back in place. Initially, it was a challenge. Of course, everything is exactly where I left it two years ago. I’ve just forgotten it all. Basic things have slipped my mind. Things like … light switch controls, thermostat switches, the wireless network name and Wi-Fi password. It was quick enough to figure out. It took a bit longer to reset my kitchen pantry.

One of the nice things about Toronto is that I’m never more that 10 minutes away from a well stocked grocery store. Here in Ucluelet there is only one grocery, the Co-op. It is also the hardware store, pharmacy, clothing, office supplies, fishing supplies and anything-else-store. The Co-op is actually very good. It is well stocked with fresh produce, meats and essentials; even if they have higher-than usual price tags. I accept the higher prices because everything needs to be ferried from the mainland and then trucked across the island to reach us here. We are after all, on the westerly edge of Pacific Canada.

However, the Co-op doesn’t have all of my kitchen essentials. For those I either have to bring them with me or order them online for delivery. Thank goodness for Amazon, Costco and online shopping! Most of what I need and cannot buy at the Co-op, I’ve been able to order online. It takes a bit a caution though. Sometimes what I order is not what I want.

Recently, I wanted to buy some seeds for a multi-seed bread I like to make. The bread requires sunflower, pumpkin, sesame and poppy seeds. I’d had the good sense to carry a pack of sesame seeds with me and was lucky enough to find sunflower and pumpkin seeds at the Co-op. Poppy seeds though, were not available. I did a quick look on Amazon, found it and ordered it.

In Toronto, I normally buy poppy seeds at the same place that I buy sesame seeds. There, it is sold in convenient 150g packets, suitable for the 15g portions I use for each batch of bread.

I don’t make a lot of things with poppy seeds. In fact, this bread is the only thing that I make regularly. The last time I bought a 150g packet of poppy seeds, it lasted me the entire two years of pandemic baking.

Imagine my dismay when my Amazon order arrived. The packet of poppy seeds that I expected to match my 150g packet of sesame seeds? It was a one-kilogram package.

I am now in search of recipes to use up 1 Kg of poppy seeds. Today I made a Lemon Poppy Seed loaf. It was quick, easy and tasty. It had a nice light crumb, good lemony flavor and a subtle nutty crunch.

The only trouble with it? It only used 25g of poppy seeds.

This month (and for probably many more months,) Lemon Poppy Seed cake is on my plate for Deb and Donna’s What’s On Your Plate challenge.