Japanese Pantry

[nakji]

That's quite a list! I keep about a third of that, and my cupboards are overflowing. What do you use the white poppy seeds for?

Salted cherry-blossoms, mostly for cheering people up in lunchboxes

That's a real "mum" thing to do.

Numerous useless packs of sauces or dipping sauces from bought noodles...

I'm freezing these and using them as bento cold-packs.

[helenjp]

I knew somebody would pick me up on the poppyseeds!

I use them mostly as a garnish when I don't want the flavor of sesame - or when I want something that will stay crunchy instead of gradually absorbing moisture, as sesame tends to. They are handy on mirin-boshi fish (brushed with mirin, sprinkled with seeds, and semi-dried before grilling), on kinpira, as a coating for deepfriend items, as a garnish for things grilled with nerimiso, or a topping garnish used in the same way as sesame seeds. I think I learned to use them from fucha ryouri (Chinese-influenced Buddhist vegetarian cooking of the Obaku zen sect).

Mostly, I just use them because they are pretty!