Dill Herb – Erakina

This is an Annual herb known with different names and used in many varieties.

It is called dill weed, aneth odorant or dill herb and famous for it’s culinary and medicinal uses in different parts of the world.

Classification

  Kingdom –     Plantae

                   Clades –      Tracheophytes 

                  Clade –        Angiosperms

     Order-         Apiale

         Family –      Apiaceae

       Genus-        Anethum

       Species-      graveolens

It originated in the Mediterranean region and distributed in Europe and Asia to be used as part of many cuisines.Dill is a word that implies “to calm or soothe.” The plant’s ability to calm colicky newborns and soothe stomach disorders may have given rise to the moniker. The Anethum genus contains only one plant, dill. Graveolens is a mixture of the words gravis, which means heavy, and oleo, which means to emanate an odour. Graveolens is a compound word that means “with a strong or heavy odour.” their flowers vary in colour from yellow to white in umbrella shape.

This plant has slender stems with soft alternating leaves and brown flat oval seeds. These seeds are more aromatic with slightly citrus flavour and must remain moist during the 10-14 day seed germination period.  It helps to add more taste in the food and paired with different ingredients like potatoes, salmon  and yogurt based sauces. It can be used dried, fresh or whole crushed with meat, fishes and egg dishes. 

 It is also rich in medicinal and nutritive value like to treat digestive ailments and also in ayurveda from old times. These seeds are chewed to freshen breath and digestion. Dill essential oils are also used for medicinal purposes. It is also feeded to cows to increase milkflow. These were called Meeting house seeds as chewed for religious services and used to keep children quiet. These are grown in gardens from the 17th century and became more famous from there.Dill doesn’t get transplanted easily and also attracts insects which are beneficial and sometimes are food for butterflies. Dill is harvested by pulling out the best looking leaves from the plants.