Herbs & Herbal Remedies @ Green Papaya

In sensitive individuals, dill might cause skin rash, but the leaf, seed, and seed oil are generally considered nontoxic.

Dill is included in the Food and Drug Administration’s list of herbs generally regarded as safe. For otherwise healthy non-pregnant, non-nursing adults, dill is considered safe in amounts typically recommended.

Dill should be used in medicinal amounts only in consultation with your doctor If dill causes minor discomforts, such as stomach upset or diarrhea, use less or stop using it. Let your doctor know if you experience unpleasant effects or if the symptoms for which the herb is being used do not improve significantly in two weeks.

Deli Comes to the Garden

Dill is an annual with a long taproot like its close relative, carrot. It has a delicate, fast-growing, spindly stem with lacy leaves. Yellow flowers appear in summer and produce great quantities of tiny ridged fruits (”seeds”).

Dill grows vigorously from seeds sown ¼ inch deep in early spring. Germination takes about two weeks. Thin seedlings to 12-inch spacing.

Dill grows to 3 feet in rich, moist, slightly acidic soil under full sun, or in the South in partial shade. Shelter plants from the wind.

Dill leaves may be harvested once plants have established themselves. Fresh dill leaves are much more aromatic than dried. To guarantee a supply of fresh leaves from late spring to late fall, plant seeds periodically throughout your growing season.

Seeds mature in about two months. Harvest them when they begin to turn brown.

Dill self-sows. Leave a few plants unharvested and you’ll have this tasty healing herb every year.

If you use dill only in your pickling spices, you’re missing out on a marvelous healer. It won’t cure hemorrhoids or increase milk production, but science has supported several of its traditional uses.

Digestive Aid and Gas Remedy - Research supports dill’s 3,000 years of use as a digestive aid The herb helps relax the smooth muscles of the digestive tract. One study shows it’s also an antifoaming agent, meaning it helps prevent the formation of intestinal gas bubbles.

Dill seed oil inhibits the growth of several bacteria that attack the intestinal tract, suggesting that it may help prevent infectious diarrhea caused by these microorganisms.

Women’s Health - Urinary tract infections (UTI) are usually caused by one of the bacteria inhibited by dill (E. coli). If you suffer recurrent UTI. try adding a cloth full of dill or some dill seed oil to your bath. It just might help.

Intriguing Possibilities - When injected into laboratory animals, dill extract stimulates respiration, slows heart rate, and opens blood vessels, all of which reduce blood pressure. Of course, people don’t inject dill preparations, but these effects suggest there’s more to learn about this herb’s healing potential.

Rx for Dill

As a breath freshener, chew 112 to I teaspoon of seeds. As a digestive aid, take an infusion or tincture. To make a pleasant-tasting infusion, use 2 teaspoons of bruised seeds per cup of boiling water. Steep 10 minutes. Drink up to 3 cups a day.
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In a tincture, take ½ to 1 teaspoon up to three times a day. For colic or gas in children under age 2, give small amounts of a weak infusion. For older children and people over 65, start with low-strength preparations and increase strength if necessary.

To discourage urinary tract infections, tie some dill seeds in a cheese-cloth bag and add it to your bath. You can also use up to a teaspoonful of dill seed oil in the bath.

The Seed That Soothes the Stomach

Family: Umbelliferae; (includes Carrot, Parsley)

Genus and Species: Anethum Grave-olens

Also known as: No other common names

Parts used: Fruit (”seeds”); leaves are used in cooking

Dill does more for pickles than provide flavor. It’s also a natural preservative, and food preservation was the original purpose of pickling.

Dill has been used in herbal healing since the dawn of Egyptian civilization-and for good reason. In addition to its preservative action, dill is an infection fighter and soothing digestive aid.

Deli Comes to the Nile

Records found in 3,000-year-old Egyptian tombs show that ancient physicians used fragrant dill as a digestive aid and intestinal gas remedy.

The 1st-century Greek physician Dioscorides prescribed dill so frequently it was known for centuries as the herb of Dioscorides.

The Romans chewed dill seeds to promote digestion, and they hung dill garlands in their dining halls, believing the herb would prevent stomach upset.

Traditional Chinese physicians have used dill as a digestive aid for more than 1,000 years. They recommend it especially for children because its action was milder than that of other digestive herbs such as caraway, anise, and fennel.

The Vikings were well aware of dill’s digestive benefits. In fact, our word dill comes from the Old Norse dilla, meaning to lull or soothe.

The 17th-century English herbalist Nicholas Culpeper claimed dill “stayeth the belly … and is a gallant expeller of wind.” Culpeper also recommended the herb for hiccups, swellings, and to “strengthen the brain.”

Deli Arrives in America

Colonists brought dill to North America. Its seed infusion, known as dillwater, became a favorite among American folk healers for such childhood ailments as colic, cough, indigestion, gas, stomachache, and insomnia. In adults, the herb was used to treat hemorrhoids, jaundice, scurvy, and “dropsy” (congestive heart failure).

Contemporary herbalists call dill “the herb of choice” for infant colic. They recommend chewing the seeds for bad breath and drinking dill tea both as a digestive aid and to stimulate milk production in nursing mothers.