A strikingly red and soporific sip
Flander poppies growing along the banks of a stream near Marx path, Amsterdam
In early summer, a diasporia of red flander’s poppies pop up everywhere along railway tracks and the outer edges of town.
A syrup can be prepared from the scarlet flower petals. I once came across an old French recipe ‘liquer de coquelicots’ and made an abbreviated translation (having since lost the book source). The petals produce an intensely red colorant, very earthy in taste and is used as as a food flavouring, especially in wine. Medicinally, the flowers and petals are hypnotic, slightly narcotic and sedative.
To prepare the poppy extract: using a mortar and pestle mash the paperly petals to a fine paste, they will become a mere fraction of their former volume. It takes around one large plastic shopping bag of leaves to make 500 ml of liquer. Put the petal mash with an equal volume of neutral 40% alcohol (eau die vie or vodka) in a big jar, add a few leaves of sheep sorrell (or you can use some fresh lemon peel) and leave in a dark place to maturate for 10 – 14 days. Filter the liquid through a cheesecloth. Make a sugar syrup of equal volume of water and sugar. Add half as much of the cooled sugar syrup as there is alcohol in the poppy solution. It’s ready for drinking, otherwise decant, bottle and keep away from direct sunlight. It will keep in a cellar or other cool place for a year or more.
Testing the blood red poppy liquer