Drying Dill

Since taking this picture a couple of weeks ago, the dill that is behind the lettuce has grown by leaps and bounds.  It smells so good!  We've been picking a bunch of it to make ranch dressing and dip and also to cook along with some fresh-picked carrots.

Fresh Dill

Tricia decided to pick a nice bit of it to put it in the dehydrator.  She wants to be able to put some aside for flavoring salad dressings and dips and also for making dill pickles later on in the spring.  I'll likely be planting cucumbers this week.  Our dill and our pickles won't be ripening at the same time.

First, Tricia washed the fresh dill in the sink in order to get little critters off of the dill.

Washing the Dill

Then she cut the dill into sizes that will fit onto the dehydrator and began loading the many trays.

Cutting the Dill to Fit

Upon loading, the dill is bright green, healthy looking and fluffy.

Let's Make a Dill

After a day or two the dill is dry.  The color is a darker green and it lays flat on the tray.  We pick the dill up and store it in zip loc bags for later use.

Dried Dill

And here is the final product.  We put it in a storage bag, put a drinking straw in the bag and sucked all of the air out of the bag and then quickly pulled the straw out and sealed the bag.

The dried dill smells very strong.  I guess all of the water has been removed and the dill flavor is concentrated in what's remaining.  We'll likely get another batch or two drying before the dill is finished.  I'll try to save some of the seeds and replant for next year.  Perhaps I can get another plant growing this year that will coincide with the cucumber crop.