The crucial choice: Selecting the right dill for perfect pickles
Lightly salted cucumbers are typically made with similar ingredients to pickled ones, often including horseradish, garlic, and dill, which are commonly added to the jar. However, is every type of dill appropriate for this purpose? Selecting the right dill is essential for achieving the desired taste and aroma of the cucumbers.
Lightly salted cucumbers are a summer favourite, tasting best a few days after preparation. They are crunchy, slightly sour, and full of flavour—ideal as a side for dinner, a topping for sandwiches, or a standalone snack. The preparation is straightforward, yet the final product is delightfully delicious. Nevertheless, one detail can significantly affect the flavour of the cucumbers: the choice of dill.
What if you use the wrong dill?
Unfortunately, not all types of dill are suitable for making lightly salted cucumbers. For instance, the intensely flavoured fennel can adversely affect the cucumbers' taste and is also ineffective in preserving them. Fennel lacks pasteurising properties, and its use could easily compromise your efforts to create the perfect homemade lightly salted cucumbers.
What dill to use for lightly salted cucumbers?
The mature stems of dill with flowers, known as umbels, are undoubtedly the best option. They impart the cucumbers with a robust aroma and the classic pickled taste. These are considerably more aromatic than young, green dill, which is more commonly used in fresh dishes, such as potatoes. If dill with umbels is unavailable, you can opt for dill leaves, though they will provide a milder flavour, preventing you from achieving a distinctly strong taste.
If you're eager to purchase dill with umbels, it's advisable to stock up in late spring or early summer. During this period, the umbels are compact and fresh, just before the flowers fully develop, offering the most intense aroma and flavour, ideal for pickling cucumbers.
However, you don't have to limit making lightly salted cucumbers to the transition between spring and summer. They can be prepared throughout the year, but this will require using frozen dill. If you choose to freeze dill yourself, ensure you freeze the whole umbels rather than chopped dill. This is because entire umbels retain their aroma and structure better during freezing and thawing, whereas chopped dill loses freshness quicker, becomes soft, and is less intense in flavour.
