Dill, nostalgic and aromatic

I love saying the word 'dill' and I love the health benefits of it, too!

In starting out my garden, the first real goal for growing to preserve was ice water pickles. My grandmother’s recipe. Attempting to grow something to preserve was a little nerve racking, I remember thinking that it can’t be that hard. I also remember thinking how awful it would be if I did it wrong and exploded jars or made my family sick. I think I followed the recipe well and that's really why it all worked out. Following recipes isn’t my strong suit.

(Note for beginners, do your research first. Winging it isn’t my suggestion. Check out this site for my favorite help.)

My mom used to make this ice water pickle recipe when I was growing up. My favorite part of a fresh opened jar was the onions and the dill. I’d fish around in the jar for those long slices of onions and try to get as much dill on it as possible before pulling it out to eat it.

I wrote about the link between our senses and emotions in March.

This sort of nostalgic reaction occurs for me with ice water pickles. Even when I am cutting fresh dill from the garden, I tear up sometimes as memories wash over me triggered by the pungent smell of the herb.

To this day, dill is still one of my favorite herbs to grow. It is beautiful with it’s soft leaves and bulbous flowering head. It’s flower resembles my favorite fireworks. Growing easily and fast it dries well to save for future cooking. And without any research, I’ve successfully saved the seeds from my first dill plants for each subsequent growing season. Gotta love easy!

Did you know that the name dill means to calm or soothe? The earliest known record of dill is agreed to be Egypt, from what I’ve researched. 5,000 years ago, it was a soothing medicinal. Dill was used as incense, to freshen breath and soothe hungry stomachs. The Greeks wrote about using scorched dill seeds to help heal wounds. The Romans wrote about feeding their gladiators dill before they fought.¹

Dill is what is used in “gripe water”. This one had me diving deeper. Gripe water was introduced to me by the doula community after I had my first baby. With what we could only define as sporadic night wakings and upset stomach, we gave gripe water occasionally and it almost always helped calm any tummy troubles down. At least that’s how it felt. I had no idea that it was actually dill. Fascinating.

Some health benefits of dill have also been noted to include reducing menstrual cramps, reducing depression, lower cholesterol, and protect against free radicals.

It fascinates me that in my diving hither and thither into something like dill leads to such troves of information regarding health through history. I’m not going to, nor am I suggesting you to run out and started consuming cups of dill to get these benefits. In reality, many of us eat dill rather sparsely. A sprinkle here on some eggs benedict. A spoonful in the pickle juice.

Dried dill from last year

What would happen if we took this information and added it in moderation to our normal routines? On any road we travel, we must start somewhere. Why not start with a couple of small herb plants? Learn how to grow them, how they help one another in the soil they share, how to harvest and use them to bless our bodies. Find some fun ways to utilize them in our kitchen adventures.

Do you already do this? If so, I’d love to hear your story. Ho did it start?

This week, I’m going to try a new recipe with dill. Farmhouse on Boone is one of my favorite sights for solid recipes and sourdough. Lisa writes from the perspective of a busy mom who’s goals and values align with mine. Why don’t you check out her cracker recipe, too? We’ll make sourdough discard crackers. I’ll add dill to mine. You add whatever herb you find most intriguing this week.

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1. Wright, J. The Herb Society of America’s Essential Guide to Dill. The Herb Society of America. The Herb Society of America’s Essential Guide to Dill

2. More reading on dill from Organic Facts. If you like more reading.