Welcome to the summary page for FabulousFusionFood's Spice guide to Dill Seeds along with all the Dill Seeds containing recipes presented on this site, with 3 recipes in total.

This is a continuation of an entire series of pages that will, I hope, allow my visitors to better navigate this site. As well as displaying recipes by name, country and region of origin I am now planning a whole series of pages where recipes can be located by meal type and main ingredient. This page gives a listing of all the Cornish recipes added to this site.

These recipes, all contain as a major flavouring.

Dill, Anethum graveolens (also known as Dillby, King Desertparsley, Shepu or Sowa) is a short-lived annual herb that's a member of the Umbelliferae (carrot/parsley) family. Originally a native of southwest and central Asia it has been naturalized to much of the world due to its culinary uses. It grows to about 60cm tall and is distinguished by long slender stems with alternate, finely-divided frond-like leaves (though they are slightly broader than the very similar looking leaves of fennel).

The flowers are white to yellow in hue and are borne in small umbels of about 7cm in diameter. Once fertilized the flowers develop into fruit that are some 5mm long and 1mm thick. These fruit are used as a spice (typically, though incorrectly, called 'dill seeds'), particularly in German cuisine and are most especially used to flavour pickles. The flavour of dill seeds is somewhat similar to caraway but also resembling that of fresh or dried dill weed herb. Dill seeds were traditionally used to soothe the stomach after meals. Indeed, they were coated in sugar and made into comfits for this purpose in Elizabethan times.

Like the herb, dill seeds are sweet and aromatic, with a flavour that is mildly aniseedy, coming somewhere between anise and caraway. The main component of the essential oil from the fruit is carvone and limonene. It should be noted that a closely-related plant, Anethum sowa is grown in India for its fruit, which are larger and less aromatic than European dill. When authentic Indian recipes are cooked and European dill is substituted for the Indian version, then the quantity of seeds should be reduced by about 25% to take account of the difference in flavour. The name 'dill' probably comes from a proto-Germanic root that is related to Old Norse dilla (to sooth or to calm) and may be related to dill's use in ameliorating stomach pain (due to its antiflatulence properties). Dill is characteristic of central European cuisines, particularly Germany where they are used to flavour breads, salads and pickles. Apart from in India, the dill herb is much more popular than the spice.