Nutrition
| Per 100 g | Per 1 oz (28 g) | |
|---|---|---|
| Energy | 296 kcal | 84 kcal |
| Protein | 24.1 g | 6.8 g |
| Fat | 7.6 g | 2.1 g |
| saturated | 0.4 g | 0.1 g |
| Carbohydrate | 33.7 g | 9.6 g |
| sugars | 0 g | 0 g |
| Fibre | 14.4 g | 4.1 g |
| Sodium | 420 mg | 119 mg |
Estimated from the ingredients, for the finished dried product. Actual values vary with the produce you use and how far you dry it.
Ingredients
- 650 g fresh dill fronds
Instructions
- Set a timer and stay near the machine. Dill is the quickest herb in this catalogue and the easiest one to ruin by not looking: the fronds go from green to straw in the space of a single extra hour.
- Cut the fronds after the dew has gone and before the day warms up. That window is when the plant is holding the most oil, and the oil is all there is to a dried herb.
- Rinse under a cold tap, shake the bunch out, and let it sit on a towel until the fronds stop looking wet. The fan has to remove any water you leave on before it gets to the water inside the plant.
- Snip the feathery fronds away from the thick central stalk and leave the stalk behind. The stalk is closer to celery than to leaf, and it will still be holding water when the fronds are already crisp.
- Pile the fronds onto a fine mesh insert about five millimetres deep, keeping the pile loose enough to see light through. They weigh almost nothing, and on a bare tray the fan sends them at the element.
- Dry at 40 °C for 4 hours, checking well before the halfway mark. Done fronds shatter rather than bend, and a modest load can reach that inside ninety minutes.
- Let the tray stand until the fronds are cool to the back of a finger. Anything jarred while still warm gives off the last of its moisture against the glass.
- Crumble the dried fronds or keep them whole — whole holds the flavour longer, crumbled goes into the pan faster. A full tray returns about a seventh of its fresh weight.
- If you want dill seed as well, let a few plants run to flower instead of trying to take both from the same cutting.
- Seal it in a small jar and keep it out of the light, where the green will hold for the best part of a year. Check the glass at the end of the first week: any mist at all and the fronds were not finished.
