What is your favorite topping for soups and salads?  My answer would be “Dill”.

During my childhood and adult years in Russia, dill was indispensable as a spicy  herb for otherwise bland food. Dill was chopped and added in soups, salads, potatoes and was the main spice and herb for salting and marinating mushrooms, tomatoes, cucumbers and what not. Both plant and seeds alongside with salt and garlic were used in preserves for the winter.

I continue to use it for cooking and as a favorite topping in my family, but only recently I found out about the outstanding medicinal properties of dill and other stories surrounding it.

FROM https://www.organicfacts.net/health-benefits/seed-and-nut/dill.html

Dill is a plant that has a long history of use in culinary, medicine and even witchcraft. During the Middle Ages, people used dill to protect themselves against enchantments. Who knew?

Ukrop (dill) had been a derogatory Russian slang term used with respect to Ukrainians. However, dill is so popular and unconditionally loved in Ukraine that the name “Ukrop” was successfully reclaimed by the Ukrainian Regional party after Maidan Revolution.

In Greece and Mid-Eastern countries, plain yogurt blended with chopped dill, garlic, shredded cucumbers and lemon juice is known as tzatziki and is a refreshingly tasty and easy summer dip that can be eaten with warm flat bread or as a sauce for lamb chops, or a salad dressing.

Now that you are armed with medicinal properties of the dill, let’s make some dill, cucumber and yogurt sauce because I love all these three.

For that I would need:

2 cups of thick plain yogurt (strain 2% FAGE Yogurt for a couple of hours before use), 2 cups of diced or shredded cucumbers (strain to remove juice but do not discard it – drink it or wash your face with it), 1/2 cup fresh dill minced, 1/4 cup lemon juice, 2 cloves garlic grated, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.

Mix all the ingredients in a blender, but do not over-blend.

Sometimes, I add shredded and squeezed zucchini in addition to cucumber.

There are different kinds of cucumbers out there. For best results, I prefer to use Persian or English cucumbers. They are both thin-skinned to shred them unpeeled, and both are nearly seedless and not bitter.

When served as a dip for veggies and bread, drizzle some virgin olive oil over the sauce.

Have a wonderful dip!

Enjoy your summer!

P.S. All the food featured in this post has been prepared and photographed by me.