Every year in February, I winter sow a garden bed full of dill. And every year in May, I stand there with a huge harvest that needs preserving. It’s a true blessing since dill is a quintessential Swedish flavor! It’s a favorite partner for new potatoes and a must-have-herb for our crayfish parties. My large, early harvest always leaves me with more dill than we need for a year. Since it’s all harvested at once I preserve it in different ways to be used all through the year.
Different ways to preserve dill
Dill can be preserved in a number of different ways. My favorites are freezing, dehydrating and making dill salt and dill butter. You could also use the dill in other products, like dill pickles or herb blends.
Freezing dill
Freezing is a great and easy way to preserve till and I always have a few liters in our kitchen freezer. To freeze dill, simply chop the leafy parts and put in a glass container. As dill has a heavy scent it’s important to use glass. If you use plastic the scent will not only taint the plastic container, but everything in your freezer. I freeze my dill in IKEA 365+ containers and when I need some, I simply scratch it up with a fork, straight from the freezer and then put the container back.
Tip: don’t toss the stalks! They contain lots of flavor and are great for boiling with potatoes or for making dill salt.
Dill salt
Dill salt is an easy way to preserve dill and a perfect seasoning for fish, potatoes and vegetables. I love tossing fries with dill salt or making sugar salted salmon with it. To make dill salt, simply mix two parts dill (the stalks work great!) with one part coarse salt and dehydrate it, either on the lowest setting in your oven or in a dehydrator, Kept in an airtight container the dill salt will keep for years to come.
Dehydrating dill
A dehydrator is a great tool if you grow your own herbs and vegetables, and it definitely come in handy when it’s time to preserve your dill harvest. Easy as it is to freeze dill, freezer space is usually limited and dehydrated dill keeps well and tastes good. Simply but the whole stalk with leaves either in your dehydrator or at a low setting in your oven. As soon as the dill is completely dry you can shake the leaves of and put in airtight containers.
Dill butter
Herb butters are a great way of preserving fresh produce from your garden and dill is no exception. Mix dill, butter and salt to taste and freeze in portions. I use soft butter so that I can mold it in silicone molds or ice cube trays before transferring to a zip bag. Dill butter is super yummy on boiled potatoes or when making butter baked salmon.
