Anethum graveolens
Origin: Kalmyk people, Kyrgyzstan
Improvement status: Landrace
Seeds per packet: ~40
Germination tested 12/2024: 94%
Life cycle: Annual
This flavorful heirloom dill traces its roots back to ethnic Kalmyk (Dzungar) shopkeepers at a market stall in Bishkek, the capitol of Kyrgyzstan, where seeds were collected not long after the fall of the Soviet Union by USDA scientist Dr. Calvin Sperling and Professor Nigel Maxted, then of the University of Southampton. Like most other dills, it has tasty aromatic foliage and flavorful seeds, an essential ingredient for pickling. Our grower says this variety produces a profusion of leaves with an "INTOXICATING!" aroma, and relatively few seeds, indicating it was likely bred specifically for the foliage. (Note: The name 'Kyrgyzstani Kalmyk' is one we've given to this dill, which came to us with no name, just passport data. It honors both the presumed geographic origin of the seeds and the ethnic group of the people who were selling them when they were collected.)
Dill is another of the commonly-grown herb crops for which there's a distinct lack of genetic diversity available in the US seed market. By finding seeds in the USDA collection from far-flung places like Kyrgyzstan and making them available here, we're trying to do our part to increase long-term food security on our changing planet — and increase access to interesting ingredients at the same time.
These seeds were produced for us by our friend Jennifer Williams of Wild Dreams Farm on Vashon Island in Washington State's Salish Sea.
NOTE: Photo of Bishkek market, where these seeds originated, comes from user neiljs and is shared under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license. The other photo is a public domain photo of common dill foliage. Unfortunately we don't have a photo of this special dill right now.
