Should dill branches or dill seeds be dried and stored? What is in the commercial spice jar?
Storing dill
You can dry them by many methods, from hanging in a paper bag (to protect from light and keep seeds from scattering) to the Alton Brown method of placing herbs between furnace filters and strapping them to a box fan. Personally, I like to put dill heads and fronds in a jar (stuffed as full as I can manage) and fill the jar with enough vinegar to cover them. Both the dill and the vinegar can then be used in making pickles, which is the way I most often use dill. I imagine you could also spritz broiled salmon with the vinegar.
I don't know if commercial spices are freeze dried or what, but it does seem to me that my own herbs always taste better, even when they've been simply hung to dry.
GREAT idea! I've been freezing my dill because it seems the dill gets ready before the cucumbers and beans do. I'm gonna run out and pick some dill now and put it in vinegar.
How long does this keep?
Critter..
That is a great idea (the vinegar/dill jars). I too would like to know how long it keeps.
I wasn't very specific with my question. Can a person use the seeds when they are already dry (they look like just like when you sow them on some of the plants)? Do they grind them to make the spice?
The dill seeds that I have seen in commercial spice jars were dried and left whole. Dill weed is a separate thing, consisting only of the dried featherery parts of the dill fronds (no seeds). I think these are the only things I've seen in commercial jars of dill.