Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Dill-Not Only For Pickles

Dill is one of those plants that I just love... I love seeing their graceful greens swaying in the breeze. I love the wonderful smell that rises with a gentle brush of the plant. I love the looks of the heads and the beautiful symmetry.

 This picture is when the little flowers are out on the heads...
Sometimes I sample the greens when the plant is at this stage.
 When the seeds form, they begin to swell....

I have learned to enjoy eating the seeds when they are like this - they crunch lightly and have a delicate dill flavor and they taste fresh and healthy.

Dill is so good for many things.... it has calcium, manganese, fiber, iron, vitamin A, magnesium... and maybe more.  It is mildly antibacterial.
 The swollen seeds start to mature and darken...

I still sample these seeds a bit, but they are stronger, so I don't eat many of them fresh at this point.

Dill can be used as dill weed (the greens/leaves) or dill seed. Dill can be used fresh or dried. Dill can be added to foods like salad, dressings, rice, soups, bread, sandwiches, and of course, pickles.

I have also discovered that it adds great flavor to hamburgers. I mix dill weed and dill seed in a grinder with Celtic salt, parsley, tumeric, dried onions, dried garlic and more.... and then after cooking a bit, I put barbeque sauce on top of each hamburger and allow it to cook in a bit.

The seeds dry up and begin to fall from the plant (and re-seed for next year) if they are not harvested. They can be saved to be used at planting time next year or to be used for cooking.

A dill seed tea can be made by steeping dill seed for about 15 minutes. It can be sweetened with Stevia and can help with nausea or heartburn. I also read that it can increase breast milk.



This is how the seeds look when they are ripe and ready to eat fresh... at least that is when I eat them. :)  I have never heard of other people doing it, but it is something fresh to enjoy while out working in the garden or walking through it.

Yum... :)

Dill is also said to be good as a mild aid for insomnia.... even safe for children and won't leave a person feeling drugged....

A few of my children have sore throats right now and that is going around, so I brought in dill seeds for them to eat.... they did it reluctantly, although one daughter liked it. Since dill is mildly antibacterial, I figured it could be a good thing to try.

 These are the leftovers after the seeds were removed... they are rather fun and interesting. :)


I read information that said dill is good as a breath freshener... it is good for colds, flu and chronic cough.  I did find a caution that said dill should not be overused in pregnancy.

I love finding out how to use herbs from my garden....after all, God provides for us-even right here in our own yard. :)  No, I am not a doctor and you can do your own research... I am just sharing what some of my research has shown.
This is dill drying in my home...  I have the mature heads as well as the immature heads....  I plan to put it all to good use. :)
Dill has a beautiful shape... and the silhouette looks nice against the sky.

My dill grew well this year and was rather tall.  










This is what the "leaves" look like on the dill.

I found a suggestion for dill butter which uses chopped fresh leaves... and lemon juice, salt and black pepper can also be added... then use it in place of regular butter. Sounds good... and I plan to try it.  :)

So, anyway, I love dill and I threw a LOT of seeds around early this year - back in the spring...and I have had a lot of dill popping up here and there... and I have loved it... I plan to do that again next year. Thank you for visiting. We love dill pickles in our house, but I hope you find some great uses for dill that go beyond just dill pickles... :)
I hope you have a great day!


20 comments:

  1. I love the smell of dill too! Beautiful post! <3

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  2. What wonderful photos of this lovely scented herb! I love dill, and we use it everywhere in Greek cooking, lucky to have it growing wildly and in abundance all year long, but especially, in the winter. Thanks for all the interesting tidbits!

    Poppy

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    1. Wow - Growing wildly sounds nice. :) So does having it all year long.... I would love to have it growing inside in the winter (too cold outside here), but so far it hasn't done well at all. Thank you for stopping in to visit. :)

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  3. The pictures present a first for me seeing dill grow.
    I love the top picture, looks sparkly.

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    1. Oh, I hope you can see it in person... I just love dill... and can't help touching it to smell it... :) Thank you for visiting.

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  4. What wonderful information on dill! I have one little dill plant that has recently flowered. I'm looking forward to collecting the seeds for next year - after we enjoy a few! :)

    Thank you for sharing at Let's Get Real Link Party.

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    1. That's great.... the last few years, I had one plant here and there and only 1 at a time.... this year I went a bit overboard w/ the seeds... and I LOVE it... I am doing this again. :) Thank you for visiting and for the linky party. :)

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  5. We like to add fresh dill to homemade ranch dressing!

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    1. That sounds great - I never thought of adding it to an already prepared dressing... great idea... thank you for visiting. :)

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  6. i didn't know how pretty this was! thanks.
    b

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    1. It is... and so fragrant and tasty too. :) Thank you for visiting. :)

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  7. Wow! I didn't know any of this information, so I'm so glad you shared it with us at the Together on Tuesdays Linky :)

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    1. It is a great herb... so glad you came over. :)

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  8. I did not have much luck with my dill this year but I will try again next year and hopes it will do better! Thanks for inspiring me to try again!

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    1. I have had lots of years where it didn't do so well either... I don't know why, but this year sure has made up for it. :) Thank you for visiting.

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  9. It is a beautiful plant. Mine has been really bloomed out this year. I have some volunteer growing in the garden where I had it last year. The nieces picked that plant this week and I made the smell it and told them they use it to make pickles. Thanks for sharing.
    Sherry

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    1. It is beautiful and so nice to have in the garden... so nice you introduced it to your nieces..... Thank you for coming to visit.

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  10. I love growing Dill. It thrives here. Thank you for sharing at Tuesdays with a Twist. YOU have been featured today at back to the Basics!

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    1. I do too......... thank you so much for the blog link up... and for the feature. :)

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