Dill

Dill (Anethum graveolens) is an annual herb belonging to the celery family Apiaceae. It originally comes from North Africa and West Asia, and is now widely cultivated across Eurasia. Both its leaves and seeds are used to flavour food.

The plant grows from a taproot similar to a carrot, reaching heights of 0.5 to 1.5 metres. Its stems are slender and hollow, with finely divided, soft leaves arranged alternately. These leaves are 10–20 centimetres long, with ultimate segments 1–2 millimetres wide—slightly broader than the finer, harder leaves of fennel. In hot or dry conditions, small white to yellow fragrant flowers appear in umbels 2.5–9 centimetres across, borne on a single long stalk. The seeds develop from dried fruit that is 4–5 millimetres long and about 1 millimetre thick, straight or slightly curved, with a longitudinally ridged surface.

The genus name *Anethum* comes from the Greek word for both dill and anise. Over time, the form *anīsum* came to refer to anise, while *anēthum* referred to dill. This Latin term gave rise to dill’s names in Western Romance languages (such as *anet* and *aneldo*) and the obsolete English word *anet*. The word *dill* and its Germanic relatives appear across most Germanic languages, but its ultimate origin remains unknown.

Dill is native to North Africa, Iran, and the Arabian Peninsula. It requires warm to hot summers with plenty of sunlight; even partial shade significantly reduces yield. It prefers rich, well-drained soil. To harvest seeds, the flower heads are cut when the seeds begin to ripen, placed upside down in a paper bag, and left in a warm, dry spot for a week. The seeds then separate easily and can be stored in an airtight container. Like fennel and parsley, dill plants are often eaten by black swallowtail caterpillars where these insects occur, so they are sometimes included in butterfly gardens.

The aroma of dill comes from compounds including apiole, dillapiole, carvone, limonene, myristicin, and umbelliferone. Fresh and dried dill leaves (sometimes called dill weed to distinguish them from the seeds) are widely used as herbs in Europe and across central and southeastern Asia. The fern-like leaves are aromatic and flavour many foods, such as gravlax, other fish dishes, borscht, soups, and pickles—where the dill flower is sometimes used. Dill is best fresh, as it loses flavour quickly when dried, though freeze-dried leaves retain their taste for a few months. Dill oil, extracted from the leaves, stems, and seeds, is distilled from the seeds and used in soap manufacturing. Dill is the key ingredient in dill pickles.

In central and eastern Europe, the Nordic countries, the Baltic states, Ukraine, and Russia, dill is a staple herb alongside chives and parsley. Fresh, finely cut leaves top soups such as hot red borscht and cold borscht mixed with curds, kefir, yogurt, or sour cream—the cold version, called okroshka, is served in hot weather. Fermented milk drinks (curds, kefir, yogurt, or buttermilk) are also popular in summer when mixed with dill and sometimes other herbs. Dill is used as a topping for boiled potatoes with butter, especially new potatoes, and dill butter serves the same purpose. Dill leaves mixed with tvorog make a traditional cheese spread for sandwiches. Fresh dill leaves appear year-round in salads, such as one with lettuce, cucumbers, and tomatoes, much as basil is used in Italy and Greece. Russian cuisine uses dill liberally; it is known as *ukrop* and is thought to have antiflatulent properties, leading some cosmonauts to recommend it for spaceflight. In Polish cuisine, fresh dill leaves mixed with sour cream form a dressing, especially for cucumber salad called *mizeria*. Dill sauce is served hot with baked freshwater fish, chicken, or turkey breast, and hot or cold with hard-boiled eggs. A dill soup called *zupa koperkowa*, served with potatoes and hard-boiled eggs, is popular in Poland. Whole dill stems, including roots and flower buds, are used traditionally for Polish-style pickled cucumbers (*ogórki kiszone*), particularly the low-salt variety (*ogórki małosolne*). Whole stems (often with roots) are also cooked with autumn and winter potatoes to mimic the flavour of new potatoes. Some fish, like trout and salmon, are traditionally baked with dill stems and leaves. In the Czech Republic, a white dill sauce made from cream, butter, flour, vinegar, and dill—called *koprová omáčka*—is served with boiled eggs and potatoes, or with dumplings and boiled beef. Another Czech dill dish is the soup *kulajda*, which contains mushrooms, traditionally wild ones. In Germany, dill seasons fish and many other dishes, is chopped as a garnish on potatoes, and flavours pickles. In the UK, dill may be used in fish pie. In Bulgaria, dill is widely used in traditional vegetable salads and many other dishes.