Poppy Seed Beigli

Today I tried a new recipe for beigli using canned poppy seed filling. This was an adventure for me, because I'd never tried anything like this before, but it's proven to be very popular indeed with the tasters (with the exception of my husband Pete, who doesn't like the almond essence in the filling - he's not a marzipan fan). I wrote about it on my blog here.



My question is this - how do you go about grinding poppy seeds at home? My elderly Hungarian friend insists that it was easy to buy ground poppy seeds years ago, but lately people only sell the whole ones. Do you use a coffee grinder or (heaven forbid) a mortar and pestle? Will a blender work? Another article I read suggested that you could soak the poppy seeds first in boiling water and that might make it easier to grind. Does anyone have any tips please? I'd love to try this recipe again, and if I grind the seeds myself, I can leave the almond essence out of the mix.

Hmmm....hope you and Rogov don't mind, Robin, but I might cross post this to his food forum as well (just this once)!

Thanks, Celia

Celia -

My wife bought some sort of device a couple of years ago that is specifically made to grind poppy seeds. When I get home tonight I'll see if I can find it.


(And we wonder why our house is always ridiculously cluttered.)

(And we wonder why our house is always ridiculously cluttered.)

Yahbut... sometimes having the right tool for the job makes all the difference!

I think that's especially the case when it comes to grinding poppy seeds! Thanks Mike...

Grinding poppy seeds is not something I've ever contemplated. With me they're usually an 'in" or "on" thing - whole.

OK, finally back home again. The poppy seed grinder is made by a company called Porkert. Amazon sells them - here's the link.

Ours was quite a bit cheaper than the $50 or so that Amazon wants, but I think the store we got it from was going out of business and selling everything off.

Thanks Mike. I think they sell that brand here as well - I'll have a hunt around...

Cheers, Celia

Molcajete?

[Robin Garr]

Hmmm....hope you and Rogov don't mind, Robin, but I might cross post this to his food forum as well (just this once)!

Not at all, Celia! We're all friends here.

Thanks Robin! Stuart, no idea where I'd find one of those here...

A follow-up....

I ended up buying a grinder (thanks Mike!) and it's absolutely wonderful. My second batch of beigli were more successful - I cooked the filling down and added a thin layer of apricot jam, which boosted the sweetness a couple of notches. I also put a much thicker filling in, which worked very well!





In case anyone is interested, there's more here.

Cheers, Celia