[3][4] The expression muffin-man, meaning a street seller of muffins, is attested in a 1754 poem, which includes the line: "Hark!

Fresh baked muffins are sold by bakeries, donut shops and some fast food restaurants and coffeehouses.

To this is added butter or shortening, eggs and any flavourings (fruit, such as blueberries, chocolate or banana; or savouries, such as cheese).

[6] The mix is turned into a pocketed muffin tray, or into individual paper moulds, and baked in an oven.

In modern times, growing poppy seeds is a difficult business for American farmers, due to the risk of heroin production.

Other countries have fewer difficulties with permitting the growth of poppies for the seeds alone, which have very low (but still present) levels of opium alkaloids, such as morphine.

Although poppy seeds cannot be used as a narcotic due to very low levels of opium alkaloids,[11] they do have enough that drug tests are often fooled and give out false positives after an otherwise drug-free person consumes just a few poppyseed muffins.

[12] Because of this, all poppyseed pastries place the person who consumes them prior to a test at a high risk of being inaccurately considered a drug user.

Harvard University's Nutrition Source states that while many fruit muffins may seem "...to be a better breakfast than their donut neighbors" at your local coffeeshop, with their "...often refined flours, high sodium, and plenty of added sugar...and large portion size, they're far from the optimal food choice to start your day.

[15] Harvard's Nutrition Source recommends smaller-sized, whole-grain muffins with reduced sugar content, liquid plant oil instead of shortening or butter, and added wholesome foods such as nuts (or nut flour), beans (or bean flour), or fresh fruit or vegetables.

In 2018, McDonald's restaurant announced they were planning to sell muffin tops as part of their McCafe breakfast menu.

Flatbread muffins are often eaten as a breakfast food (e.g. as an essential ingredient in Eggs Benedict and most of its variations), accompanied by coffee or tea.

Recipes for English muffins appear in published cookery books from the early 18th century,[22] although the product is undoubtedly older than that.

[23] In the Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson states that "[t]here has always been some confusion between muffins, crumpets, and pikelets, both in recipes and in name.

Thomas called the product "toaster crumpets", and intended them as a "more elegant alternative to toast' to be served in fine hotels.

[26] In 1910, Fred Wolferman of Kansas City, Missouri began making denser English muffins at his family grocery, using empty tin cans as molds.