Dill - Ingredients, effects, use and instructions for your own cultivation

Dill herb - spice and medicinal plant at the same time

Dill is one of our most common spices, and everyone knows from pickled cucumbers. That is why this umbellifer is also called cucumber herb. Less well known is the herb as a medicinal plant. There are their active ingredients in it.

• Dill contains many vitamins, minerals and essential oil.
• It promotes digestion and helps with bloating, has a slightly antibacterial effect and inhibits inflammation.
• These effects are less severe than their relatives caraway, anise and fennel.
• The seeds taste much more intense than the leaves and are therefore best for teas.
• The herb can be used in many ways in the kitchen.

contents

• Dill herb - spice and medicinal plant at the same time
• ingredients
• Healing effect and application of dill
• Historical applications
• Recipes for tea and wine with dill
• Biological aspects
• An old crop
• Dill yourself - instructions and tips
• Dill in the kitchen
• A friend of onions and lemon

ingredients

Dried dill contains 0.35% essential oil, 3.3% potassium, 1.7% calcium and 0.2% sodium. The fruits have up to 8% essential oils, and which provide the typical taste, more specifically Phellandren and Dilläther. Added to this are coumarins and caffeic acid derivatives. The condiment contains vitamins B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B7, A, C and E..

Dill contains lots of vitamins and minerals. (Image: osoznaniejizni / fotolia.com)

Healing effect and application of dill

Dill fruits stimulate digestion, help against bloating and release cramps. So they are good for lessening feelings of fullness and relieving gastrointestinal spasms, which also explains why dill is so popular as a culinary herb.

The seeds in water and in wine boil up against abdominal pain and flatulence. Dill leaves in hot water as Dampfsitzbad relieve spasm in the abdomen. Traditionally, the plant has also been used as a remedy for menstrual problems, scientifically proven to promote the release of the female hormone progesterone.

Historical applications

Traditional applications are not scientifically proven. Ancient physicians used him for headaches, constipation and to clean the uterus. He should help with abdominal pain, vomiting and flatulence. Hildegard von Bingen recommended him for lung diseases and nosebleeds. Pharmacists sold dill for hiccups and cramps in the lower abdomen.

Folk medicine used cucumber herb less intensively than related umbelliferous plants such as anise, cumin or fennel. These work similarly, but are much more effective. Seeds and leaves of the herb can be used against digestive problems, lack of appetite, insomnia and heartburn.

Those who have high blood pressure should refine their dishes more often with dill herb. (Image: manulito / fotolia.com)

The medicinal plant also lowers blood pressure, simply by eating more often with dill herb or seeds.

Recipes for tea and wine with dill

We take Dill as a medicinal plant in the form of a tea to us. In this are only the seeds. For a large cup of Till tea, we take about three grams of seeds. The tea tastes similar to fennel tea, but not quite as sweet.

Falling asleep helps Dillwein. For this, heat a glass of white wine and pour the hot wine over a teaspoon of dill seed. They let everything pull for several minutes, pour off the wine and drink it in small sips.

Biological aspects

The plant is annual and grows from seeds. It reaches a maximum of 75 cm, usually less, is smooth, of bright green and smells intense. The stems grow upright, the leaves remind of a fiedigen circle, which reminds of fennel.

As umbellifer she bears double umbels with up to 50 rays and a diameter up to 15 cm and overgrown sepals. Insects and beetles pollinate the flowers. The flowering begins in May and extends into August, the schizocarps ripen between July and September and spread with the wind or adhere firmly.

The one-year-old cucumber herb reaches a stature height of up to 75 cm and smells very fragrant. (Image: 1981 Rustic Studio / fotolia.com)

An old crop

Even the ancient Egyptians cultivated the herb for the same reasons as today - as a spice and for healing. The Greeks and Romans used its aroma in the kitchen. Dill herb was already a cultivated plant at that time, the wild dill probably comes from the Middle East.

The Bible literally calls him: "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites, you who tormented the mint, dill and caraway, leaving behind the heaviest in the law, the judgment, the mercy and the faith!" (Matthew 23). 23)

In the Middle Ages he served mainly as a medicinal plant. Dill potions were used to feed the digestive system, the fruit replaced the mouthwash, tea drank our ancestors for stomach upset.

Dill yourself - instructions and tips

We can grow cucumber herb indoors as well as outdoors, in the open soil as well as in pots. Garden dill has little claims. The soil should not be too compact, and he does not like waterlogging. At about 15 degrees you sow it directly into the field. Before you relax the ground. In the spring and summer you sow regularly from new, then you can constantly harvest fresh. They pull a groove in the ground and distribute the seeds evenly.

If the dill reaches 15 cm, you can harvest the herb - as needed. From about 30 cm you should cut and store the whole plant. Humid soils with high compost content are ideal, but they like slightly acidic soil. In the field, we can see the seeds directly from March, or even germinate seeds in the apartment and plant later. He sprouts in the dark and in the cold. Perfect is a phase before germination with temperatures of 5 to 10 degrees Celsius.

He needs three weeks to germinate. We harvest from late May to October. We harvest the green cabbage before the flower starts. After that, we only harvest the seeds. Dried leaves and seeds are stored in airtight containers.

The leaves can also be put into oil or freeze deeply. Dill herb is wrapped in foil and kept in a refrigerator for up to three weeks, chopped and frozen for at least one year. To dry it, tie it in the fresh air to bouquets, hang them upside down and have a stock that lasts years.

Dill goes well with fish like salmon or trout. (Image: BillionPhotos.com/fotolia.com)

Dill in the kitchen

Dill herb tastes fresh a bit tart. The taste of the seeds is much more intrusive, bitter with more than a hint of cumin. Connoisseurs therefore sweeten dills with honey.

Dill is an all-rounder among the culinary herbs. It goes well with herb butter, herbal quarks, yogurts and salad dressings. As a seasoning it makes good in fish dishes, for example for salmon and trout, the herb is also good for boiled potatoes. Leaves and umbels belong to gherkins, but, like the cabbage, they also give zucchini and beans that certain something.

A friend of onions and lemon

The popular spice herb harmonizes with lemon, coriander, basil and pepper, as well as with onions, wild garlic, chives, leek, garlic, mustard seeds and parsley.

Fish such as salmon, trout or walleye rub in with this mixture, add crushed pepper and salt, and leave everything in the refrigerator for two days before preparing the fish.

Important: Cook dill - if at all - only briefly. The aroma does not tolerate much heat and fresh it tastes best. (Dr. Utz Anhalt)