Dill is an herb where both the leaves and the seeds are used in cooking. The green leaves have feathery fronds with a slightly sweet delicate flavor that complements fish dishes, particularly smoked salmon. The brown seeds are more pungent and they are used as a pickling spice. Dill has many uses as a flavoring but it features extensively in Scandinavian cuisine without Dill Scandinavian gravlax would be just another cured salmon recipe. Dill originated in Eastern Europe, although traces of dill have been found in the tombs of the Pharaohs.

Dill also has medicinal uses the Old Norse word "dilla", means to lull or soothe. Although gripe water is no longer a fashionable remedy for colic it is a concoction of dill seeds in hot water sweetened with honey.

The Scandinavian diet has a lot of fish and shellfish and a wide range of meats including wild deer and reindeer. Recipes for smoking and pickling fish go back as far as the Vikings. Because northern Scandinavia is in the land of the midnight sun, the sun never sets in the Summer, but conversely it never rises in Winter. Preserving food for the long dark winters has been necessary since the dawn of time.

The most famous quintessentially Scandinavian dish has to be Gravad lax which means literally buried salmon. In ancient times salmon was very prevalent and it was used as a convenient food for the poor people after it was buried for weeks in a salt filled hole. Viking records indicate that the Norwegians were exporting dried fish in the ninth century.

Other important herbs and spices in Scandinavian cookery Parsley and juniper berries, juniper berries is the perfect foil for game because of its strong taste, when you bite into juniper berries it is like tasting neat gin. Another aspect of Scandinavian food is the pickled cucumber and dill plays a part in its preparation.

Dill is used in Scandinavian potato salad mixed with pickled cucumbers, potatoes and herring, bound together with lashings of sour cream and sweetened with red onion.

Growing tips for Dill

Dill is an annual but yellow flower on the delicate fronds produce plentiful seeds which will come up again next year. Outdoors in the right conditions which means plenty of summer the dill plant grows as tall as 4 feet, but indoors in the kitchen it is smaller. When you are growing your own plants and seeds to plant out the hardiest plants and eat the delicate seedlings as accompaniment to a salad.

Recipes

Gravad lax

Gravad lax is salmon which been home cure in sugar salt pepper and dill, it is both salty and sweet at the same time it is served as an appetizer with rye bread and pickled cucumbers. The salmon used is the cut that is parallel to the backbone rather than the salmon steak; remove any bones with tweezers before curing.

1lb (450g) of salmon,

2 Tablespoons (1 Ounce) (30g) kosher salt,

1/8 cup (1 Ounce) (25g) sugar,

2 teaspoons (10ml) ground black pepper,

Several large handfuls of fresh dill leaves

Method

Place the salmon on a very large piece of plastic wrap (it has to encase the fish comfortably about four times over). Mix together the sugar, salt and pepper rub it into the salmon. Place a large pile of fresh dill over the top of the salmon and wrap well in the plastic.

Place in the refrigerator for at least three days in a glass bowl, the longer it is left the more intense the flavor. Before eating wash the gravlax gently and pat dry with a paper towel. Slice thinly from the tail end first and serve with pickled cucumbers.

When making pickled cucumbers it is important to use a pan with a nonstick stainless steel cookware pan because the vinegar can react with certain metals especially aluminum.

Pickled cucumber

Ingredients

1 lb (750g) small cucumbers

3 Large handfuls of fresh dill leaves

2 teaspoons (10ml) black peppercorns

3 cups (750ml) water

1/2 cup (125ml) white wine vinegar

1 1/2 tablespoons coarse salt

Method

Wash the cucumbers well and pat dry with a paper towel. Slice the cucumbers thinly and layer in a pickling jar with the dill and peppercorns.

Heat the water vinegar and salt in a stainless steel saucepan and carefully pour over the cucumbers whilst still hot. Seal the jar immediately and leave for at least a week at room temperature. Pickled cucumbers will keep unopened for six months, but once the jar has been opened eat within six weeks.

Farskpotatissalad - New Potato Salad traditionally served on midsummerís eve.

15 new potatoes

1 cup sour cream

1/3 cup mayonnaise

1/2 cup fresh dill, finely chopped

Method

Wash the new potatoes and then steam until tender. Cool and then quarter the potatoes. Fold together the mayonnaise and sour cream, and add the chopped fresh dill. Fold potatoes into sour cream mixture and refrigerate for at least 1 hour before serving.

Article provided courtesy of Best Cookware Help - a consumer guide to cookware, enamel cast iron cookware