CULTURE OF THE POPPY FOR OIL. 2Q 1 



The first oil is destined for the use of families. This is Two kinds of it. 

 <s>M-drawn 9 as any degree of warmth injures the flavour. Af- 

 ter as much is extracted in this manner as possible, a con- 

 siderable quantity of an inferior quality is obtained by heat- 

 ing the cakes, and pressing them a second time. 



The oil expressed must remain for the space of five or six Management 

 weeks before it is used, that it may deposit in a sediment a ° lt " 

 kind of milky substance that is mixed with it. It must then 

 be poured into another vessel ; and this should not be per- 

 fectly closed at first, but the opening be covered with a 

 linen cloth, or a pricked bladder, that certain exhalations 

 may pass. Nor should the oil be immediately used after the 

 process is finished, as it continues to improve for a consider- 

 able length of time. 



That which is first expressed is of a pale colour; is pecu- The best oil. 



liarly bland and soft, has a flavour approaching to that of 



the almond oil. It is used for sallads and other domestic 



purposes, either alone or mixed with olive oil. Should the 



latter be stale or rancid, it will be considerably improved by 



a mixture of recent poppy oil. It is not asserted that this Superior to the 



oil may be placed in competition with Provence or Italian c ° m ™° n ° hve 

 .,„... i i • • • ii- oil of the shops, 



oils of prime quality ; but that it is superior to the olive oils 



sold in shops, being often used to improve their quality. 

 May I not add, that the inhabitants of this country are some- 

 what prepared for the culinary use of this oil, by being al- 

 ready accustomed to its taste, though without their know- 

 ledge. For since it has long been imported into Holland, 

 and used without suspicion, we cannot suppose that the mer- 

 chants of this commercial nation are totally strangers to the 

 commodity*. 



The 



* We are told by Mr. C. A. Fisher, in his Letters written during a 

 Journey to Montpeilier, in the year 1804, " that the oil of Provence, which, 

 on account of its purity, mildness, and fine flavour, is famous all over * *' 

 -Europe, is exported to Italy in large quantities, and was formerly ex- 

 ported to many distant countries. But since the hard winters of 1789, 

 and the following years, so many olive trees have been frozen, and dur- 

 ing the Revolution so few planted, that Aix (which was the principal 

 seat of its traffic) has now entirely lost its first and most lucrative branch 

 ©f commerce. 



U2 Two 



