Dill:Not just for pickles

  • By Kyle Valentini
  • June 28, 2011
  • 352
                        
Summary: Commonly used to flavor pickles, dill can be used in a variety of recipes. One of the easiest herbs to grow in the garden, dill needs little care to thrive. Succession planting will provide you with fresh dill all summer long but it is just as easy to preserve it for later use. Dill is an easy herb to grow and a great first herb if you’ve never tried growing herbs before. It needs full sun and will get quite tall, sometimes three feet high. Dill isn’t too fussy. It, like most herbs, will tolerate less-than-perfect soil which is what most of us have. It doesn’t need to be fertilized or much less thought of unless you are growing it from seed, you’ll want to keep the soil moist. If you plant dill in spring after the last frost it will be ready for harvest right about…now. Once it has sprouted it will establish itself easily and you can literally ignore it until it is time to harvest. It is rather difficult to ignore, however with its fern-like leaves and pretty yellow flowers. Even lightly brushing up against it in the garden will evoke memories for most of: a grandmother’s pickle recipe or perhaps a favorite potato salad recipe shared each summer at a cook out or pot luck. It’s said that smells provoke memories better than any of our other senses. Smells can alter our moods and sometimes a walk in the garden is all it takes to turn a sour mood sweet. With a flavor similar to caraway and a fragrance with hints of lemon, pine, and fennel, dill is more versatile than we might think. For some reason the leaves of dill are called dill weed and the seeds are actually the fruit. When using the delicate leaves fresh from the garden it called, not surprisingly, fresh dill. Keep this in mind when using dill in recipes because the fragrance and flavor differs depending on which variety of dill you are using. Dill is ready to harvest just before the flowers begin to open. It is at this time the flavor is at its strongest and well, its best. It can be used fresh or dried. Drying dill is as simple as hanging it upside down out of direct sunlight until it is dry. It can also be dried in a dehydrator. Don’t cut or chop the leaves. Leave them on the stem. The fragrance and flavor will be lost otherwise. Dill can be frozen as well. It is a good idea to preserve dill for later use because unless you have planted successively, it comes and goes rather quickly. Harvest time is important. If you wait too long the plants will go to seed and you will have dill growing in places you never thought possible. Leaving just one plant in the garden to reseed will usually result in a successful new generation of dill. If too many seeds sprout thin the seeds to about 18 inches. If you’d like to save the seeds for planting yourself place a paper bag over the flower heads, hang it upside down. As the plant dries the seeds will fall into the paper bag. Try using dill in new ways. We already know how wonderful it is in pickle, potato and sour cream or cream cheese dip recipes. It is also terrific in this recipe. Feta and Dill Baked Mushrooms 6 to 8 large portabella mushrooms 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped 2 Tablespoons chopped fresh dill 2 Tablespoons lemon juice (about one lemon) 3 Tablespoons good olive oil 1 cup good feta, crumbled (Buy it whole, crumble it yourself) Salt and freshly ground pepper Place mushrooms on a baking sheet. Sprinkle with dill and garlic. Drizzle with olive oil and lemon juice. Top with crumbled feta and salt and pepper. Bake in a 350F oven for 15 minutes then move to the top rack and broil until the mushrooms look cooked and the cheese has begun to brown nicely.


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