I was just reading that dill and radishes are good companion plants around cucumbers. We have quite a bit planted, even though we do go through a lot, and I was wondering what/how to store the excess. Thoughts?
The easiest way I know of to store excess dill is to dry it and then put it in a jar in your spice cupboard. Around here, dill never sits around and loses its essence, even dry, we love the stuff. Anyhow, I have personally experienced dried dill that was a year old smell and taste just as it did when it was new. Dry dill keeps quite well.
Unfortunately the only way I know to preserve radishes is to pickle them. And most internet blogs and so on recommend using a radish fresh. Do you have any other folks around that like to eat radishes? Maybe you could spread the wealth?
I haven't dried dill in particular, but if you have a dehydrator, it makes it a piece of cake. I've also dried herbs by gathering them in bunches and hanging them from a beam in my laundry room. That takes a few weeks, tho, but if they are in an out-of-the-way space, it shouldn't be a problem.
My DW collects the leaves with some stem by the hand full, then wraps a rubber band around the stems, places the boquet in a plastic bag and freezes it.
She uses it all winter long, just chops off the amount needed for soup, salad, or whatever. We usually collect the flowers for dilly beans and pickles, if available at canning time, and leave some seeds in the garden.
I think I might freeze some, but I love the idea of hanging to dry. We have a dtorae shed out back-too many bugs might be a problem (?). I could use our laundry room,too....
just take and group the stems together with some string. but don't wind the string around it to tightly, the stems need air circulating around them to properly dry. hang them upside down somewhere there is limited sunlight and limited dust.
check the bundle every few days since drying them may cause the stems to shrink and the string could come loose. once they fully dry it shouldn't need to be rebound. it should take about 1-2 weeks to dry out fully depending on how dry the area is they are hanging in.
you can also dry some herbs using a microwave but i don't suggest it for dill, sage or basil since they can be strong in their oils and have a lot of water that cause them to pop while being microwaved.
if you are keeping the dill flower heads you may want to place a paper bag under it to catch any petals or seeds that may drop. i tend to make pickles with the flower heads placing a few into each jar!
A good way to preserve the dill flavor is to make some dill vinegar for your salad dressing. Just put fresh dill leaves in a jar with the vinegar of your choice and keep it in a tightly closed jar or bottle. It will keep its flavor forever and pickled in vinegar like that you don't have to worry about spoilage. You can also use dill seed that way but the flavor isn't as good. If you want it to look nice put a flower head in with the leaves.
BTW dill is an umbeliffera so it's flowers are a big favorite with the parasitic wasps that keep down white fly.
I was watching a cooking show and it stated that herbs and spices dried in their whole form keep most of their flavor for 12-24 months if keep in a dry, dark place and only started to break down quickly when it was ground. They recommended only grinding the seasonings right before you need them. So, if you keep your leaves and seeds whole you can keep them for a very long time. But dill freezes well too.