Gadenin日本語Get the appCutting leaf: outer fronds, growing point intact
Start cutting leaf as soon as the plant has four or five true fronds and is around eight inches (20 cm) tall. Waiting for a bigger plant gains nothing, because the first fronds are the most tender and they coarsen as the plant runs up to flower.
Cut whole fronds at the stem, working from the outside and the bottom of the plant, and leave the central growing point untouched. Never shear the plant across the top. You can safely take about a third of the foliage at a time and come back in a week to ten days.
Leaf quality peaks in the two weeks before the first flower bud appears and drops off sharply once the umbel opens. Foliage from a flowering plant is thinner, tougher and carries more of the seed's aroma and less of the fresh grassy note. It is still perfectly usable, just different.
Cut in the morning after the dew has dried and before the sun is on the plant. The essential oils are highest then, and the fronds are firm rather than limp. Dill leaf wilts within an hour of cutting on a hot day, so bring a jug of water to the bed rather than a basket.
Green seed: the pickling harvest most people miss
The stage between flowering and ripe seed is the most useful harvest dill offers, and it lasts about ten days. Once the yellow petals have dropped and the seeds are formed, flat and still green, the whole head carries an intense aroma that combines the leaf and the seed. This is the head that goes into a jar of cucumbers whole.
Cut the entire umbel with six to eight inches (15 to 20 cm) of stem so you have something to push into the jar. Take the head when the seeds are plump and green and before any of them starts to show a tan edge. A head with browning outer seeds has already lost most of the volatile top notes.
| Stage | What it looks like | Best use | Window |
|---|---|---|---|
| Young leaf | Soft blue-green fronds, no bud | Fresh in cooking, freezing | Six to eight weeks from sowing |
| Full flower | Flat yellow umbel, petals open | Cut flowers, insect food, flavoring oil | About ten days |
| Green seed | Petals gone, seed flat and green | Whole heads in pickles and brines | About ten days |
| Half ripe | Seed tan at the edges, head firm | Cut and finish drying under cover | Three to five days |
| Ripe seed | Seed brown, head loosening | Drying and storing as spice, saving seed | Shatters within a week |
Ripe seed: cut before the head shatters
Ripe dill seed does not wait. The head loosens and the seeds drop over a few days, and a dry windy spell can empty a head almost overnight. Watch the outer seeds of the umbel: when about half of them have turned from green to a flat tan brown, cut the head, even though the center still looks green. The head finishes ripening off the plant.
Cut with twelve inches (30 cm) of stem, put a handful of heads upside down in a paper bag, tie the neck around the stems and hang it somewhere dry and airy out of direct sun. Over two weeks the seed drops into the bottom of the bag on its own. Do not use plastic, which traps moisture and molds the seed.
Rub the dried heads between your palms over a bowl to release the last of the seed, then winnow off the chaff by pouring the bowl between two containers in a light breeze. Store the cleaned seed in a sealed jar in the dark. Seed kept for cooking holds good aroma for about a year; seed kept for sowing germinates well for three years and acceptably for four.
- Check the heads daily from first color change From the day you notice the first tan seed, look at the heads every day. The difference between a full head and an empty one can be two days of wind.
- Cut in the morning while there is still dew Damp seed clings to the head instead of shattering as you carry it. Cut early, and hold a bag under the head as you cut so nothing is lost on the walk back.
- Dry in paper, never plastic Hang the bagged heads for two weeks somewhere dry with air movement. Shake the bag occasionally. The seed must rattle dry before it goes into a jar or it will mold.
- Separate cooking seed from sowing seed Label the jars at the moment you fill them, with the year. A year later you will not be able to tell a two-year-old jar from a one-year-old one by eye, and germination is the thing that suffers first.
Storing the leaf
Dill leaf dries badly. Air drying loses most of the aroma and what is left tastes like hay, which is why dried dill weed is so disappointing compared with the fresh herb. Freezing is far better: chop the fronds, pack them into an ice cube tray with a little water or oil, freeze, and turn the cubes into a bag. The texture goes, but the flavor survives well enough for soups, sauces and dressings.
For a week or so of fresh storage, stand the cut stems in an inch (2.5 cm) of water like a bunch of flowers, cover loosely with a bag and keep it cold. Do not wash the fronds until you use them; wet dill turns to slime within two days.
Salting is the other option worth knowing. Layer chopped dill with coarse salt in a jar and keep it cold. It keeps for months and the salt carries the flavor into anything you use it in, as long as you account for the salt in the recipe.
Record the date of your first leaf cut, the date the first umbel opened and the date the first seed browned, for each sowing. Those three dates turn a vague sense of 'dill bolts fast' into an exact planting calendar for your garden.