"I am always pleased with that particular time of the year which is proper for the pickling of dill and cucumbers"
--Joseph Addison in The Spectator (1711)
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Dill
(Anethum graveolens)
A southern European biennial herb, its name comes from the Old Norse dilla, meaning "lull"...as it was commonly used to quiet colicky babies. Tradition has it that it's been used as a culinary and medicinal herb from the beginning of civilization. Certainly it was used by medieval witches in their love potions and to ward off the evil eye. By the 17th century, it had spread to the New World with the early New England settlers in America.