Dill grows upright with fine, delicate leaves. The main use of dill is in cooking, and its culinary applications vary widely. Whether dried or as a fresh garnish, dill has a long history as a flavoring herb. It has even been found in 3400-year-old Egyptian tombs. In North America, it may be most well-known as the distinctive flavoring in dill pickles.
I. Appearance and Characteristics
Dill (Anethum graveolens) is an annual herb in the celery family Apiaceae. It is native to North Africa, Iran, and the Arabian Peninsula; it is grown widely in Eurasia, where its leaves and seeds are used as a herb or spice for flavouring food.
The word dill and its close relatives are found in most of the Germanic languages; its ultimate origin is unknown.
The genus name Anethum is the Latin form of Greek ἄνῑσον / ἄνησον / ἄνηθον / ἄνητον, which meant both “dill” and “anise”. The form ‘anīsum’ came to be used for anise, and ‘anēthum’ for dill. The Latin word is the origin of dill’s names in the Western Romance languages (‘anet’, ‘aneldo’ etc.), and also of the obsolete English ‘anet’.
Dill grows up to 1.5–5 feet (0.46–1.52 m) from a taproot like a carrot. Its stems are slender and hollow with finely divided, softly delicate leaves; the leaves are alternately arranged, 10–20 cm (4–8 in) long with ultimate leaf divisions are 1–2 mm (1⁄32–3⁄32 in) broad, slightly broader than the similar leaves of fennel, which are threadlike, less than 1 mm (1⁄16 in) broad, but harder in texture.
In hot or dry weather, small white to yellow scented flowers form in small umbels 1–3+1⁄2 in (2.5–8.9 cm) diameter from one long stalk. The seeds come from dried up fruit 4–5 mm (3⁄16–3⁄16 in) long and 1 mm (1⁄16 in) thick, and straight to slightly curved with a longitudinally ridged surface.
II. How to Grow and Care
Sunlight
Plant your dill in a garden location that gets full sunlight for at least six to eight hours each day. If you live in an especially hot climate, during the summer a bit of afternoon shade is fine and appreciated.
Temperature and Humidity
Dill plants are very cold-hardy and can tolerate temperatures that dip as low as 25 degrees Fahrenheit. That being said, the optimal temperature for your dill plant is when the soil is about70 degrees Fahrenheit, which will happen during the late spring and summer in most USDA hardiness zones. Dill has no special humidity requirements.
Watering
Keep your dill plant consistently moist without allowing the soil to become soggy or soaked. The soil should never be allowed to dry out completely between waterings because that can cause the plant to prematurely bolt to seed.
Soil
Dill plants prefer soil that is rich, loose, and well-draining. Dill is not particular about its soil pH but thrives best in slightly acidic soil. Keep in mind, dill plants have a taproot (a central dominant root from which smaller roots grow), so compacted soil could be a problem. Because dill can self-sow, it’s important that you either plant it in a spot where it’s allowed to roam or where you can harvest it before it goes to seed.
Fertilizing
Similar to most herbs, dill is not a heavy feeder. If your garden soil is rich in organic matter, your dill should require no additional fertilizer. Keeping the soil slightly lean will produce more aromatic plants.
How to Grow From Seed
Direct sow dill seeds after the danger of frost has passed in spring or start the seeds indoors about four to six weeks prior to planting outdoors. Don’t wait too long to transplant the seedlings because its taproot system makes them unhappy growing in small pots.
Plant the seedlings about one inch deep, spacing them 12 to 15 inches apart. Dill responds well to pinching the growing tip—pinching results in a bushier plant, so pinch and use your dill often.
Pests and Diseases
Don’t be alarmed if you see one or more yellow, green, and black caterpillars eating your dill. It is probably an Eastern black swallowtail caterpillar—adult females lay their eggs on dill plants giving the hatchlings a ready-made food source. Dill is a favorite food of theirs, along with other members of the carrot family. The caterpillars won’t stay long, so instead of fighting to rid your garden of them, just plant some extra dill to share.
Otherwise, dill is virtually problem-free. In fact, it attracts beneficial insects to your garden—lacewings and syrphid flies will feed on the plant’s pollen and lay their eggs nearby. The larvae, in turn, feed on aphids, which can cause problems for many plants.
III. Uses and Benefits
Culinary uses
- Central and eastern Europe
In central and eastern Europe, the Nordic countries, the Baltic states, Ukraine, and Russia, dill is a staple culinary herb along with chives and parsley. Fresh, finely cut dill leaves are used as a topping in soups, especially the hot red borsht and the cold borsht mixed with curds, kefir, yogurt, or sour cream, which is served during hot summer weather and is called ‘okroshka’. It also is popular in summer to drink fermented milk (curds, kefir, yogurt, or buttermilk) mixed with dill (and sometimes other herbs).
In the same way, dill is used as a topping for boiled potatoes covered with fresh butter – especially in summer when there are so-called “new”, or young, potatoes. The dill leaves may be mixed with butter, making a dill butter, to serve the same purpose. Dill leaves mixed with tvorog form one of the traditional cheese spreads used for sandwiches. Fresh dill leaves are used throughout the year as an ingredient in salads, e.g., one made of lettuce, fresh cucumbers, and tomatoes, as basil leaves are used in Italy and Greece.
Russian cuisine is noted for liberal use of dill, where it is known as укроп. It is supposed to have antiflatulent properties; some Russian cosmonauts recommended its use in human spaceflight due to such properties being beneficial in confined quarters with a closed air supply.
In Polish cuisine, fresh dill leaves mixed with sour cream are the basis for dressings. It is especially popular to use this kind of sauce with freshly cut cucumbers, which are almost wholly immersed in the sauce, making a salad called ‘mizeria’. Dill sauce is used hot for baked freshwater fish and for chicken or turkey breast, or used hot or cold for hard-boiled eggs. A dill-based soup, (zupa koperkowa), served with potatoes and hard-boiled eggs, is popular in Poland. Whole stems including roots and flower buds are used traditionally to prepare Polish-style pickled cucumbers (ogórki kiszone), especially the so-called low-salt cucumbers (ogórki małosolne). Whole stems of dill (often including the roots) also are cooked with potatoes, especially the potatoes of autumn and winter, so they resemble the flavour of the newer potatoes found in summer. Some kinds of fish, especially trout and salmon, traditionally are baked with the stems and leaves of dill.
In the Czech Republic, white dill sauce made of cream (or milk), butter, flour, vinegar, and dill is called ‘koprová omáčka’ (also ‘koprovka’ or ‘kopračka’) and is served either with boiled eggs and potatoes, or with dumplings and boiled beef. Another Czech dish with dill is a soup called ‘kulajda’ that contains mushrooms (traditionally wild ones).
In Germany, dill is popular as a seasoning for fish and many other dishes, chopped as a garnish on potatoes, and as a flavouring in pickles.
In the UK, dill may be used in fish pie.
In Bulgaria dill is widely used in traditional vegetable salads, and most notably the yogurt-based cold soup Tarator. It is also used in the preparation of sour pickles, cabbage, and other dishes.
In Romania dill (mărar) is widely used as an ingredient for soups such as ‘borş’ (pronounced “borsh”), pickles, and other dishes, especially those based on peas, beans, and cabbage. It is popular for dishes based on potatoes and mushrooms and may be found in many summer salads (especially cucumber salad, cabbage salad and lettuce salad). During springtime, it is used in omelets with spring onions. It often complements sauces based on sour cream or yogurt and is mixed with salted cheese and used as a filling. Another popular dish with dill as a main ingredient is dill sauce, which is served with eggs and fried sausages.
In Hungary, dill is very widely used. It is popular as a sauce or filling, and mixed with a type of cottage cheese. Dill is also used for pickling and in salads. The Hungarian name for dill is ‘kapor’.
In Serbia, dill is known as ‘mirodjija’ and is used as an addition to soups, potato and cucumber salads, and French fries. It features in the Serbian proverb, “бити мирођија у свакој чорби” /biti mirodjija u svakoj čorbi/ (to be a dill in every soup), which corresponds to the English proverb “to have a finger in every pie”.
In Greece, dill is known as ‘άνηθος’ (anithos). In antiquity it was used as an ingredient in wines that were called “anithites oinos” (wine with anithos-dill). In modern days, dill is used in salads, soups, sauces, and fish and vegetable dishes.
In Santa Maria, Azores, dill (endro) is the most important ingredient of the traditional Holy Ghost soup (sopa do Espírito Santo). Dill is found ubiquitously in Santa Maria, yet, is rare in the other Azores Islands.
In Sweden, dill is a common spice or herb. The flowers of fully grown dill are called ‘krondill’ (crown dill) and used when cooking crayfish. The krondill is put into the water after the crayfish is boiled, but still in hot and salt water. Then the entire dish is refrigerated for at least 24 hours before being served (with toasted bread and butter). Krondill is also used to flavor pickles and vodka. After a month or two of fermentation, the cucumber pickles are ready to eat, for instance, with pork, brown sauce, and potatoes, as a sweetener. The thinner part of dill and young plants may be used with boiled fresh potatoes (especially the first potatoes of the year, new potatoes, which usually are small and have a very thin skin). In salads it is used together with, or instead, of other green herbs, such as parsley, chives, and basil. It is often paired up with chives when used in food. Dill is often used to flavour fish and seafood in Sweden, for example, gravlax and various herring pickles, among them the traditional, ‘sill i dill’ (literally ‘herring in dill’). In contrast to the various fish dishes flavoured with dill, there is also a traditional Swedish dish called, ‘dillkött’, which is a meaty stew flavoured with dill. The dish commonly contains pieces of veal or lamb that are boiled until tender and then served together with a vinegary dill sauce. Dill seeds may be used in breads or ‘akvavit’. A newer, non-traditional use of dill is to pair it with chives as a flavoring for potato chips. These are called ‘dillchips’ and are quite popular in Sweden.
In Finland, the uses of dill are very similar to those in Sweden, including flavoring potato chips and, comparatively less popularly, in a dish comparable to ‘dillkött’ (’tilliliha’). Generally, the use of dill in Finland, however, is not as extensive as in large parts of central and eastern Europe, particularly Russia but including even the ethno linguistically close Estonia.
- Asia and Middle East
In Iran, dill is known as ‘shevid’ and sometimes, is used with rice and called ‘shevid-polo’. It also is used in Iranian ‘aash’ recipes, and similarly, is called shaved in Persian.
In India, dill is known as ‘Sholpa’ in Bengali, shepu (शेपू) in Marathi, sheppi (शेप्पी) in Konkani, savaa in Hindi, or soa in Punjabi. In Telugu, it is called ‘Soa-kura’ (herb greens). It also is called sabbasige soppu (ಸಬ್ಬಸಿಗೆ ಸೊಪ್ಪು) in Kannada. In Tamil it is known as sada kuppi (சதகுப்பி). In Malayalam, it is ചതകുപ്പ (chathakuppa) or ശതകുപ്പ (sathakuppa). In Sanskrit, this herb is called shatapushpa. In Gujarati, it is known as suva (સૂવા). In India, dill is prepared in the manner of yellow ‘moong dal’, as a main-course dish. It is considered to have very good antiflatulent properties, so it is used as ‘mukhwas’, or an after-meal digestive. Traditionally, it is given to mothers immediately after childbirth. In the state of Uttar Pradesh in India, a small amount of fresh dill is cooked along with cut potatoes and fresh fenugreek leaves (Hindi आलू-मेथी-सोया).
In Manipur, dill, locally known as pakhon, is an essential ingredient of chagem pomba – a traditional Manipuri dish made with fermented soybean and rice.
In Laos and parts of northern Thailand, dill is known in English as Lao coriander (Lao: ຜັກຊີ or Thai: ผักชีลาว), and served as a side with salad yum or papaya salad. In the Lao language, it is called ‘phak see’, and in Thai, it is known as ‘phak chee Lao’. In Lao cuisine, Lao coriander is used extensively in traditional Lao dishes such as ‘mok pa’ (steamed fish in banana leaf) and several coconut milk curries that contain fish or prawns.
In China dill is called colloquially, ‘huíxiāng’ (茴香, perfume of Hui people), or more properly ‘shíluó’ (莳萝/蒔蘿). It is a common filling in ‘baozi’, ‘jiaozi’ and ‘xianbing’ and may be used as vegetarian with rice vermicelli, or combined with either meat or eggs. Vegetarian dill baozi are a common part of a Beijing breakfast. In baozi and xianbing, it often is interchangeable with non-bulbing fennel and the term 茴香 also may refer to fennel, similarly to caraway and coriander leaf, sharing a name in Chinese as well. Dill also may be stir fried as a potherb, often with egg, in the same manner as Chinese chives. In Northern China, Beijing, Inner-Mongolia, Ningxia, Gansu, and Xinjiang, dill seeds commonly are called ‘zīrán’ (孜然), but also ‘kūmíng’ (枯茗), ‘kūmíngzi’ (枯茗子), ‘shíluózi’ (莳萝子/蒔蘿子), ‘xiǎohuíxiāngzi’ (小茴香子) and are used with pepper for lamb meat. In the whole of China, ‘yángchuàn’ (羊串) or ‘yángròu chuàn’ (羊肉串), lamb brochette, a speciality from Uyghurs, uses cumin and pepper.
In Taiwan, it is also commonly used as a filling in steamed buns (baozi) and dumplings (jiaozi).
In Vietnam, the use of dill in cooking is regional. It is used mainly in northern Vietnamese cuisine.
- Middle East
In Arab countries, dill seed, called ain jaradeh (grasshopper’s eye), is used as a spice in cold dishes such as ‘fattoush’ and pickles. In Arab countries of the Persian Gulf, dill is called ‘shibint’ and is used mostly in fish dishes. In Egypt, dillweed is commonly used to flavour cabbage dishes, including ‘mahshi koronb’ (stuffed cabbage leaves). In Israel, dill weed is used in salads and also to flavour omelettes, often alongside parsley.
Companion planting
When used as a companion plant, dill attracts many beneficial insects as the umbrella flower heads go to seed. It makes a good companion plant for cucumbers and broccoli.
Tomatoes will benefit from dill when it is young since it will repel harmful pests while attracting pollinators, but must be pruned as it matures to prevent the dill from flowering, as this will slow or stop the growth of tomatoes.
Other uses
Fresh and dried dill leaves (sometimes called “dill weed” or “dillweed” to distinguish it from dill seed) are widely used as herbs in Europe and in central and south-eastern Asia.
Like caraway, the fern-like leaves of dill are aromatic and are used to flavour many foods such as gravlax (cured salmon) and other fish dishes, borscht, and other soups, as well as pickles (where the dill flower is sometimes used). Dill is best when used fresh, as it loses its flavor rapidly if dried. However, freeze-dried dill leaves retain their flavour relatively well for a few months.
Dill oil is extracted from the leaves, stems, and seeds of the plant. The oil from the seeds is distilled and used in the manufacturing of soaps.
Dill is the eponymous ingredient in dill pickles.
