Dill Weed Oil

#### Dill Weed Oil. Also known as **Dill Herb Oil. The **dill plant, **Anethum Graveolens, **is one of the many umbellifers which supply us with aromatic seed or culinary herb material. The plant grows wild in most parts of Europe, the Middle East up to southern Russia, all around the Mediterranean Sea widely in India and Fareast Asia, in Italy and in Kenya. In most of these areas, it is harvested for use as dry botanical material. In England and Hungary, it is cultivated for the purpose of distilling the seed oil (see monograph), and in the U.S.A. and Hungary, distillation of the entire **Herb **(the "weed") is effected on locally grown cultivated dill. Smaller quantities are cultivated and distilled in Germany and Holland (weed oil). The plant is distinguished by having yellow flowers (like the pimpinella plant) in contrast to the white flowers of most other umbelliferes. **Dill Weed Oil **is distilled from the partially dried, fully grown herb which is harvested immediately prior to maturity of the seed (fruits). The herb is steam distilled on the growing spot, and the yield of dill weed oil per acre is slightly less than the yield of oil from spearmint (which is concentrated in the midwestern area where harvesting is mechanized, thus making the production more economically attractive. Practically all of the American dill weed oil is used in the American pickle industry. Pickles are the largest quantity canned food item in the U.S.A. **Dill Weed Oil **is an almost colorless or pale yellow mobile liquid with a powerful and fresh, sweet-spicy, peppery and aromatic odor, reminiscent of elemi oil, spearmint oil, citrus oils, etc. with a sweet, nutmeg-like undertone. The taste is warm and slightly burning, but pleasant and not pungent although very peppery and spicy, with a faint anisic undertone. The suggested use level is. (measured in a neutral medium; the figures should be significantly higher in acid medium, e.g. vinegar): 3.00 to 8.00 mg%, and the **Minimum Perceptible**** ****is**** **0.40 to 0.80 mg%. A comparatively mild tasting oil. Although it is used in this large industrial product (canned pickles), **Dill**** ****Weed Oil**** **is used very little in other cases, mainly those connected with sauces, seasonings, etc. The production of the oil is not impressive, and outside the U.S.A., the herb itself is still widely used for the flavoring of pickles, vinegar, etc. With the rapid growth of the canning industry, it is conceivable that the oil will be introduced in other countries, too, as a replacement for the herb. From the related plant, **Anethum**** ****Sowa**** **(see monograph), another *seed** *oil is distilled which differs slightly from the oil distilled from **Anethum**** ****Graveolens**. Anethum sowa oil is mainly used in the Far East where the plant is cultivated and is also found as a native, wild-growing plant.