Cookbook:Dill

Dill
Category	Herbs and spices

Cookbook | Recipes | Ingredients | Spices and herbs

Dill is a short-lived, European, annual herb. Both the fern-like leaves and the seed are used.

Dill leaves (called dill weed) are used to flavor many foods, such as borscht and gravlax. It is a popular herb used in various ways with fish, and works well with creamy sauces.

Dill seeds can be used much like caraway and fennel seeds, sprinkled over casseroles and breads, and in salad dressings. Dill seed has long been used to make teas for helping with digestive problems.

Both the seeds and the leaves are commonly used to flavor cucumber pickles.

Dill is not simply a herb; it is believed by some to have magic power. Roman gladiators are said to have anointed themselves with dill oil before their fights. Superstitious people believe that a bunch of dill hung above the doorway to one's house wards off evil spirits. In England it is said that dill protects from bedevilment, as is revealed in the saying: "Vervain and dill hinder witches from their will."