Add Depth To Your Flavors With This Popular Swedish Herb
The most popular culinary herb in Scandinavia is Fernleaf dill (Anethum graveolens).
Dill is a versatile All Year Gardening choice.
Used as foliage for flowers from the garden, gripe water, and everything from pickles to cream cheese, for fish and vegetables.
The ancient herb, Anethum graveolens or Fernleaf dill as it is commonly known, was mentioned some 5,000 years ago in early Egyptian writings.
It is the most important culinary herb in Scandinavia, as popular as parsley is in other parts of the world. The word ‘dill’ stems from the Old Norse word dilla, meaning “to lull,” and can be grown indoors and out.
The feathery leaves make dill a pretty foliage plant, which is lovely as a green foil for the flowers in your garden. The fragrance of dill on fingers evokes a ‘comfort smell’ for many people like the leaves smell of homemade dill pickles.
Home Remedy For Tummy Gas
Old-fashioned dill water or gripe water as it is commonly known (made by infusing crushed dill seeds in hot water), is still used as a remedy for indigestion in adults as well as children. Gripe water is given to babies to help colic and a gassy tummy. You can make your own or buy it over the counter. Either way, it has helped babies and their mothers for generations.
Grow Your Own Dill; It’s Easy and Safe From Chemicals
Dill is an annual but self-seeds so once planted you will have it forever in your garden as long as you allow some of the plants to go to seed.
Dill has yellow flowers and grows 1 – 4 ft. (30 – 120 cm) Tall outdoors. In pots indoors, dill will be a more compact and pretty plant.
Grow dill from seed and when thinning, use the seedlings you pull up, as they are tender and delicious. Dried dill leaves are known as ‘dill weed.’ If you need dill seed for your fall pickles, plant some dill in mid-July to ensure you have ripening seed.
All Year Gardening Cultivation requirements
Dill grows best in deep, well-drained, fertile, sandy loam, likes compost or manure. Dill must be grown in full sun and watered during dry periods. Create your own compost with these step by step instructions.
Dill is easily grown from seed and produces well for indoor Edible Gardening if grown under fluorescent lights. Hang the lights 6 inches (15 cm) from plants and leave on for 14 hours a day.
Although regular dill plants reach 2-4 feet in height, the more diminutive Fearnleaf variety usually maxes out at around 18 inches. Pay attention to what types you select for your growing area. This will ensure your plants have adequate room to grow and reseed.
Dill does not transplant well, and it needs a deep pot for its long taproots. Pinch out the tops to prevent flowering and seed setting to keep plants growing longer.
Growign Dill is a perfect choice for a Vertical Garden. One Square Foot of Soil = 6 Feet of Vertical Gardening Growing Space.
Dill Friend or Foe with Other Plants in the Vegetable Patch?
The Lovers:
- Lettuce
- Asparagus
- Spinach
- Broccoli
- Brussel Sprouts
- Corn
- Onion
- Cauliflower
- Beans
Vegetables to avoid planting near Dill include cabbage, carrots, chili, capsicum, egg plant, and potatoes.
Tomatoes and dill are delicious culinary companions, however, be cautious. Young dill plants help tomatoes however as the Dill matures, it can attract horn worms to the tomato plant leaving nasty holes and blemishes.
Culinary Uses
In the kitchen, use dill for pickles, cabbage, turnips, cauliflower, in butter on fried or grilled fish, sour cream, meats, stews, cream cheese, dips.
Use fresh with green beans, potato dishes, cheese, soups, salads, seafood, sauces, and snipped on vegetable dishes.
Sprinkle young dill on broiling lamb, pork chops, or steaks during the last 5 minutes of cooking.
The yellow flowers fall somewhere between the leaves and seeds regarding flavor. Add them to pickle jars or toss in salads for a punch of color and flavor. Save stems to make broth.
Seeds can be sprinkled on toast or crackers with salmon that has been mixed with mayonnaise. Seeds and leaves can be used in fish sauces. Zucchini can be sliced thin and sautéed in olive oil and fresh dill leaves for an excellent side dish.
Fresh dill can be kept in the fridge for a few days by submersing the stems in a glass of water.
Cover loosely with a plastic bag and make sure the leaves are above the water. Fresh leaves can be frozen in re-seal-able bags and used in dishes. Seeds can be stored in a closed container and used as needed. You can eat the leaves, seed heads, and seeds. Use seeds if cooking for a long time and dill weed if adding at the last minute. Dill can be dried or frozen.
All Year Gardening Dill Inspired Recipes
Have you ever spent hours searching through your recipe books, going to the library, looking through magazines or borrowing friends cookbooks only to find the very best recipes online? This is what we found when searching for recipes using Dill.
Here is a collection of the very best recipes our extensive research has found for Dill. We give full attribution to the online sources so you can go and checkout these recipes.
At AllYearGardening.com, we are committed to creating and finding for you the best information. It gives us great pleasure to do so and acknowledge sometimes the best is found from others.
Thank you to the HuffingtonPost for these Dill Inspired Recipes.
1. Grape Leaf Pilaf
2. Bourbon Carrots with Dill
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Thank you also to the Sunset Kitchen Assistant for these Dill inspired meals, side dishes, and treats.
1.Grilled Fingerlings with Dill
2. Greek Spinach Dip
3.Dungeness Crab and Garlicky Yogurt Pasta
4. Herbed Carrot Soup
5. Butter Lettuce and Egg Salad
6. Dolmas Rice Salad
7.Cheese Dill Scones
8.Creamy Smoked Trout Spread
9.Flaky Fetta Tart
10. Cucumber Tomato Salad.
Preserving Dill
When you harvest an abundant crop of Dill and even tried out these delicious recipes, you can sill preserve what’s remaining for use throughout the year.
For Dill and many other herbs preserving them is quite simple. Just rinse with water, place in a plastic bag and into the freezer.
For other ways to preserve your food, at Allyeargardening.com we have researched and prepared a mass of useful content for you.
Preserving Your Harvest – Pickled Vegetable, Herb and Fruit Recipes,
8 Ways to Preserve Your Harvest and,
The Quick Way To Dehydrating.
Enjoy growing, eating and preserving your Dill, a wonderfully versatile herb providing that gourmet taste to your every day and entertaining recipes.
