All About Dill and How it Is Used – Dill Seasoning
What is dill seasoning?
- Dill is an herb that is often used as a seasoning. It has a fresh, slightly sweet and tangy flavor, and is used in many dishes to add flavor and aroma. Dill is a common ingredient in many cuisines, including Scandinavian, German, and Russian. In cooking, it is used to season sauces, dips, dressings, pickles, soups, stews, and casseroles. It is also used as a garnish for potatoes, meats, and fish dishes. Fresh dill leaves are available in most grocery stores and can be used in recipes, but dried dill is also commonly used as a spice.
How We Use Fresh and Dried Dill as Seasoning
We love fresh dill and use it often in our cooking. It gives the foods we love a little extra dose of delicious flavor. It’s very healthy to use fresh herbs and spices to flavor foods instead of fats and sugars.
Dill or dill weed as most people call it, is a pretty “feathery” green herb (plant) that is most commonly know for it’s addition to cucumbers when making “dill pickles.” Dill is considered a great pickling herb because it holds up well in form and flavor when added to the brine that makes pickles.
We would not have our beloved delicious dill pickles without the dill plant.
Dill is commonly used to enhance the flavor of fish, but it is also found in many of our soups and sauces as well.
Dill is a flowering herb and closely related to parsley, caraway fennel, and bay leaf. All the herbs we love to use in our cooking!
Herbs and spices add flavor to our foods without fat or preservatives, but even better reasons to use them, most are filled with vitamins and antioxidants.
There are 4 edible parts to the dill plant –
- Leaves – chop up and sprinkle on fish before cooking or mix with sour cream for a dill sauce.
- Flowers – throw the whole flower and part of the stem in the jar when making pickles.
- Stems – chop up the thinner stems to use right along with the leaves.
- Seeds – use whole or crushed.
Grow Your Own! Dill is very easy to grow yourself, just toss the seeds in a sunny area with good drainage after the last frost. Plant about 1/4 inch in the ground and wait about just a couple weeks to see growth!
Dill Fact – Dill weed actually refers to the leaves and stem of the plant but not the seeds.
The flower part of the dill plant is called the umbrels.
Dill can grow rather large so make sure it has enough room to grow tall. You may also want to put a tomato support around the large dill plant to help support it.
Dill is A Host Plant for the Eastern Black Swallowtail Butterfly! – Grow enough dill in containers or in your garden to share with the butterflies. Dill is a host plant and some little beautiful visitors may show up.
Dried Dill or Fresh Dill?
Always try to use fresh dill in recipes because it loses so much of its flavor during the drying process. Try to use the fresh dill a few days after purchase. You can easily freeze dill so this is a better option if you have extra or can’t use it right away.
A few of our favorite dill recipes –
We often add chopped dill to many of our egg dishes including our deviled eggs and vegetable frittatas. For scrambled eggs with dill, simple add 1/2 tablespoon of chopped dill to the eggs before cooking.
Dill and Sour Cream Dip Recipe:
Ingredients:
1 cup sour cream
1/4 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste
Instructions:
In a mixing bowl, combine the sour cream, mayonnaise, chopped dill, lemon juice, garlic powder, salt, and pepper.
Mix everything together until well combined.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes, or up to 24 hours, to allow the flavors to develop.
Serve this yummy dip with vegetables, crackers, or chips. Enjoy!
Creamy Dilly Sauce for Salmon: Stir 1/4 cup of chopped dill into one cup of sour cream. Mix in 2 teaspoons of lemon juice and 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder. Serve with baked salmon.
Dill Butter: Melt butter with a little chopped dill and a pinch of lemon juice to toss with freshly steamed carrots or boiled potatoes.
Steak Tiger Dill Sauce – Mix together 2/3 cup sour cream, 1/2 cup mayonnaise, 1/4 cup prepared 
horseradish, 1 teaspoon sugar, 2 tablespoons fresh chopped dill leaves
Quick Ranch Dressing – Mix together 1/2 cup mayonnaise, 1/2 cup sour cream, 1/4 cup milk, 2 teaspoons lemon juice, 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder, 1/4 teaspoon onion powder, 1/2 tablespoon finely chopped dill, salt to taste.
Where to buy Dried Dill
Dried dill can be found in the seasoning section of your grocery store.
Where to buy Fresh Dill
Fresh dill is typically bought at your local Farmer’s Market or a market that grows their own produce. Dill weed is rather large so be cautious when transporting in your car.
Its’ Easy! Grow Your Own Fresh Dill!
Is dill weed easy to grow? Yes, dill weed is relatively easy to grow. It is a hardy annual herb that can be grown from seeds or from seedlings. It prefers well-drained soil in a sunny location and can tolerate some shade. It is important to keep the soil consistently moist, but not waterlogged. Dill also attracts beneficial insects like honeybees and ladybugs to the garden.
When growing dill from seeds, it is best to plant the seeds directly in the garden in the spring, after the last frost has passed. The seeds can also be started indoors about 4-6 weeks before the last frost date and then transplanted to the garden. When growing dill from seedlings, plant them in the garden when they are about 4-6 inches tall.
Dill can grow to be 2-3 feet tall and will produce fragrant yellow flowers in the summer. Once the flowers have bloomed, the plant will start to decline and it is best to cut it down and let it regrow for another harvest. Dill leaves can be harvested and used throughout the growing season.
