Dill seed
Anethum graveolens · Spice
Top 10 pairings
Dill seed is the dried, flattened fruit of the dill plant (Anethum graveolens), a slender annual of the carrot family. Small and oval with three pale ridges and a thin papery wing, it carries a warm, caraway-anise aroma that anchors pickling brines, rye breads and spice blends across Northern and Eastern Europe and South Asia.
Picking a good onedrag
Just milled, loud and oilyFaded, dusty, smells of nothing
Good whole seedEveryday bestThe all-rounder: dill-pickle brine, rye bread, soured cabbage, fish, beetroot - or a few seeds steeped as a digestive, a culinary pinch and not dill oil.
Crush a few and smellWarm and anise-sweet, but you go looking for it to find it
Whole fruit or groundWhole seed, with a few split halves and some dust among them
Look at the seedsEven light brown, ridges still legible, a little chaff in the jar
Shake the jar, pinch a fewStill loose in the jar, and a pinch crushes clean between the fingers