Poppy seed sugar is speed 10 for 20 seconds. Then keep the lid on for 1 minute. Anyone who opens the lid straight away ends up with poppy dust all over the kitchen.
We have been making poppy seed sugar in batches for years. One screw-top jar is enough for 10 to 15 Germknodel. The poppy seeds give the sugar a nutty aroma that works with all sweet flour-based dishes.
Poppy Seed Sugar in the Thermomix®
Ingredients 0 / 2 ✓
- 150 g poppy seeds
- 200 g sugar
Instructions 0 / 3
-
1
Grind the ingredients.
Add poppy seeds and sugar to the mixing bowl. Close the lid and grind for 20 sec / speed 10.
-
2
Let the sugar dust settle.
Wait 1 minute before removing the lid so the sugar dust can settle.
-
3
Fill into a container.
Store the poppy seed sugar in a sealable container.
Tip: Before grinding, you can tuck a sheet of kitchen paper under the mixing bowl lid to stop the sugar dust escaping from the Thermomix®.
The poppy seed sugar tastes great with sweet desserts such as apple fritters, strudel or Germknodel.
Nutrition per serving
Why speed 10 and not lower
Poppy seeds have a hard shell. Speed 7 or 8 only chops them roughly, so the poppy aroma stays locked inside. Speed 10 breaks open the shell and releases the essential oils. That is the difference between a grey powder and a sugar that actually smells of poppy seeds.
The sugar acts as an abrasive buffer. Without sugar, the poppy seeds would turn to paste because they contain a lot of oil. The 200 g of sugar combined with 150 g of poppy seeds keeps the result dry and free-flowing.
The 1-minute wait is not optional
Speed 10 creates a fine dust that floats inside the mixing bowl. Anyone who removes the lid straight away spreads that dust around the kitchen. On the worktop, the floor, sometimes all the way to the living room.
1 minute is enough for the dust to settle back to the bottom of the mixing bowl. Then you can open the lid without any trouble. This applies to all powder recipes in the Thermomix®, not just poppy seed sugar.
Kitchen paper in the lid does not help
Some recipes suggest tucking a sheet of kitchen paper between the lid and the rim of the mixing bowl. The idea is that the paper catches the dust that rises through the blade seal.
In practice this does very little. The dust appears when you open the lid, not during grinding. As long as the lid is closed, the dust stays in the mixing bowl. The paper just creates extra washing up without replacing the waiting time.
Blue poppy seeds or grey poppy seeds
We use blue poppy seeds. They are milder and less bitter than grey poppy seeds. For Germknodel and strudel they are the better choice, because the poppy flavour should be a supporting note rather than the main event.
Grey poppy seeds have more bitter compounds and a more intense aroma. They work well for poppy seed cake or when you want poppy as the star ingredient rather than a topping. In poppy seed sugar, grey poppy seeds quickly become dominant and overwhelm the sweetness.
How long does poppy seed sugar keep
Poppy seeds contain a lot of oil. Ground poppy seeds go rancid more quickly than whole ones because the oils oxidise on contact with air. In a well-sealed screw-top jar, poppy seed sugar keeps for about 3 to 4 weeks at room temperature.
In the fridge it keeps for 2 to 3 months. If the poppy seed sugar smells or tastes bitter, it has gone rancid and should be discarded. Better to make smaller amounts more often and keep it fresh.
How to use poppy seed sugar
Germknodel is the classic. Scatter the poppy seed sugar straight onto the hot dumplings with a drizzle of melted butter. The butter carries the poppy aroma into the dough.
Apple strudel, curd cheese strudel or cherry strudel work just as well. The poppy seed sugar adds a nutty note that contrasts with the sweetness of the filling. It also works beautifully on steamed dumplings or Buchteln.
We sometimes scatter poppy seed sugar over warm rice pudding or semolina. It is not a classic combination, but the poppy brings a depth that plain sugar simply does not have.
What other recipes do differently
Many Thermomix® recipes use 100 g of poppy seeds to 200 or 250 g of sugar and grind for only 15 seconds. We deliberately use 150 g of poppy seeds to 200 g of sugar because that ratio gives a stronger poppy flavour rather than a sweet powder with a few poppy flecks. 20 seconds rather than 15 is our standard because blue poppy seeds have a tough shell and a shorter time often gives grey crumbs instead of aromatic powder. We leave out vanilla and lemon zest as they drown out the nutty poppy on Germknodel. And the 1-minute wait after grinding is barely mentioned anywhere else, even though that is exactly when the poppy dust ends up all over the kitchen.
