Dill (Anethum graveolens) has a long history as a spice. We show how to store and use it after harvest.
Dill: Harvest properly
The greatest interest in dill is in its young shoot tips. These can be harvested continuously throughout the crop until flowering (May-October). Due to the flowering, which appears depending on the date of sowing, the cucumber herb noticeably loses its aroma intensity.
The shoot tips are simply cut off at a length of about 15 cm. From a height of around 30 cm, you can consider harvesting the entire plant before it flowers. Since dill needs a maximum of nine weeks to flower, it should be sown several times at intervals of about four weeks. This ensures a constant supply of fresh, aromatic dill. You can also simply let the borage flower and use the inflorescences or seeds.
Dill: Proper storage
Using it fresh from the harvest always delivers the best and most intense taste experience. But there are also ways to make dill durable and usable for longer without major loss of aroma. If stored at around freezing point with relatively high humidity, the cucumber herb can be used for three more weeks after harvest. You can also freeze the fresh shoot tips immediately after harvest and use them again as needed. As with almost all herbs, drying the harvested shoots is also possible. Air-dried under low light, the herb loses little of its aroma and can be used for seasoning with the same intensity for up to a year.
Use of the Dill
Dill is ideal for refining any fish dishes. It is just as suitable for meat dishes as it is in various sauces and dressings. Dill seems to be a jack of all trades in the kitchen. And real pickles without dill would just be a poor imitation of the traditional original. Incidentally, the inflorescences can also be used to flavor pickled cucumbers. A tea from the tipsprepared with dill shoots, provides relief for stomach and digestive problems. Oil can be obtained from the edible seeds by distillation. It is also possible to soak the seeds in water - you would have made a dill water. Both dill oil and water are two old household remedies for various ailments that Paracelsus, among others, swore by in the late Middle Ages.
Did you know that not all herbs get along well with each other? In our overview you can find out which herbs go together - and which don't.