Spice Pages: Dill Seeds and Dill Weed (Anethum graveolens)

Dill plants in full flower

The charac­ter­istic, sweet taste of dill is popular all over Europe, Western, Central and Southern Asia. In Europe, it is mostly used for bread, vegetable (especially cucumber), pickles, and fish; for the last application, the leaves are preferred. Furthermore, it is indispensable for herb flavoured vinegars. See mango on the topic of sour ingredients and vinegar in general.

To make herbal vinegar, a mild vinegar brand must be chosen (e. g., apple vinegar). Herbs, a clove of garlic and, if desired, a few pepper or allspice corns are then macerated for a couple of weeks. Many different herbs have been suggested; cookbooks mention most frequently tarragon, thyme, bay leaves, chervil and cress (nasturtium flowers are particularly decorative). Further, optional herbs are rosemary, lemon balm, lovage, basil and even rue. Lemon-scented herbs (e. g., chameleon plant or lemon myrtle) are particularly effective. Perilla leaves can be employed to give the vinegar both subtle flavour and a most unusual colour. Dill adds depth and body to the product and should never be omitted. When ready, herbal vinegar may be used to prepare delicious sauces; most commonly, however, it is used for salads, which is delightful during winter when fresh herbs are sparse.

Ripening dill umbels

In North Eastern Europe and Russia, dill is popular for pickled veg­etables, which are there pro­duced in great variety, either by pickling in vinegar or by lactic fermen­tation. Fresh dill sprigs are mandatory in most recipes of that kind. In these regions with long, cold winters, preserved vegetables are an important source of vitamins and fresh flavour for the otherwise dull winter diet. Dill is also one of the few herbs used in the cooking of the Baltic states, where chopped dill is a frequent decoration on various foods (e. g., boiled potatoes), similar to the use of parsley and chives in other European countries.

Fresh dill leaves (dillweed) is a kind of national spice in Scandinavian countries, where fish or shellfish dishes are usually either directly flavoured with dill or served together with sauces containing dill. German cooks also tend to use dill mostly for fish soups and stews (see also parsley on bouquet garni). Dill reached the Northern latitudes probably via medieval monasteries, where it was grown as a medicinal herb according to the Capitulare de villis (see lovage).

Dill has, however, retained its popularity in its original homeland, Asia. Dried dill shows up in Georgia’s famous spice mixture, khmeli-suneli (see blue fenugreek) and fresh dill leaves are commonly chopped and sprinkled over various spicy foods, usually in combination with parsley and coriander.

A further example is the Georgian national condiment tqemali sauce made from a local wild plum variety (cherry plum, Prunus cerasifera called t’q’emali [ტყემალი] in Georgian and written tkemali [ткемали] in Russian). It is prepared simply by boiling and puréeing ripe or unripe plums; as flavourings, khmeli-suneli (or, according to some recipes, dill alone), lemon juice and garlic are used. The taste is delightful, fruity–acidic–spicy, somewhat comparable to tamarind sauces. T’q’emali can be boiled down to yield dry, elastic layers known as fruit leather (t’q’lap’i [ტყლაპი], also tklapi or tqlapi).

Dill weed is also quite popular in Iran. It is usually employed for bean dishes, e. g., rice with boiled fava beans (baghali polo [باقالی پلو]). Also in India, particularly in Punjab, dill is an occasional spice for the lentil and bean dishes known as dal [दाल]; in Gujarat, it also appears in short fried vegetables. In India, not the weed but the dried fruits are employed which have a more pungent flavour than European dill, with some aspects of mint or ajwain. Like many related spices, dill fruits are shortly fried in hot fat to develop their aroma (see also ajwain).