Is dill high in histamine?
Dill has not been tested for histamine; we estimate fresh dill mostly low, but fermented dill pickles are a different matter, estimated moderate because fermentation can form histamine.
- Histamine
- Not measured
- Other amines
- Not measured
- Liberator
- Not on the lists we use
- DAO blocker
- No evidence
What each source says
| Source | Verdict | What it says, in our words |
|---|---|---|
| Leafy vegetables measured in Spain 1 | No histamine in lettuce, traces in chard, an average of 31.77 mg/kg in spinach. Dill was not tested. | |
| Spices as a food group, 2020 review 2 | No detectable histamine in 12 spice samples; the spices are not named. | |
| 10 published low-histamine diets 3 | Dill is not on the review's chart of foods the diets exclude. | |
| SIGHI food list 4 | See source | See SIGHI's own list for its rating. |
How freshness and processing change it
Dill was not measured fresh, dried or pickled. Fresh dill wilts within days, so buy it bright and use it soon. Pickles are the form to check: fermented pickles can build up histamine, vinegar pickles are a different product.
Not measured; measured leafy greens range from none to high. (estimate)
Not measured; a group of 12 spices had no histamine, but the spices are not named. (estimate)
Not measured; fermented sauerkraut averaged 43.74 mg/kg. (estimate)
Why we rate dill 1
Dill has not been tested for histamine in the studies we use. Its feathery fronds are a leafy herb and its seeds a spice, and the most common way people meet dill in a histamine question is in pickles.
For fresh dill we rate from what is known about leaves. In a survey of vegetables sold in Spain, a University of Barcelona team found no histamine in lettuce, traces in chard, 0.79 mg/kg on average, and high levels in spinach, 31.77 mg/kg on average and present in every sample. Some histamine is natural to certain plants, and bacteria can add more during storage. Dill's relative parsley showed no significant change in histamine over three weeks in the fridge in one study, but no level was published for either herb. We rate fresh dill 1, "mostly low", as an estimate.
Pickles are the bigger issue. Dill pickles are made in two ways: some are fermented in salt brine, others are packed in vinegar. Fermentation is one of the two main ways foods build up histamine, because the bacteria that ferment them can form it. Fermented pickles were not measured in our sources. The closest product is sauerkraut, fermented cabbage, which averaged 43.74 mg/kg of histamine across five samples sold in Spain, from 7.36 to 80.12 mg/kg. We estimate fermented dill pickles at 2. Check the label or ask the maker whether a pickle is fermented or made with vinegar.
Dill is also a classic partner for yogurt and cucumber in sauces such as tzatziki, and both of those had no detectable histamine in the team's tests. In gravlax, dill is used to season cured salmon; there the fish is the question, not the herb.
Dill seed is a spice. A 2020 review from the same team found no detectable histamine in a group of 12 spice samples sold in Spain, but it does not name them, so we estimate dill seed at 0 without a direct measurement.
Dill does not appear among the foods charted as excluded by the ten published low-histamine diets in the team's 2021 review.
Questions about dill and histamine
Are dill pickles high in histamine?
Fermented dill pickles were not measured, but fermentation is one of the main ways foods build up histamine, and sauerkraut averaged 43.74 mg/kg. We estimate fermented pickles at 2. Vinegar pickles are a different product.
Is dried dill low histamine?
Dried dill was not measured. We estimate it the same as fresh dill, 1, "mostly low".
Evidence behind this page
- Dill does not appear in the measurement tables of the 2018 or 2021 reviews. 13
- Among leafy vegetables tested in Spain, lettuce had no detectable histamine (4 samples), chard averaged 0.79 mg/kg (8 samples) and spinach 31.77 mg/kg (18 samples). 1
- Sauerkraut sold in Spain averaged 43.74 mg/kg of histamine (5 samples, 7.36–80.12 mg/kg). 3
- Fermented products accumulate histamine because the bacteria responsible for fermentation can have histamine-forming capacity. 32
- A group of 12 spice samples sold in Spain had no detectable histamine; the review does not name the spices. 2
Sources
- Sánchez-Pérez S, Comas-Basté O, Rabell-González J, Veciana-Nogués MT, Latorre-Moratalla ML, Vidal-Carou MC. Biogenic Amines in Plant-Origin Foods: Are They Frequently Underestimated in Low-Histamine Diets? Foods 7(12):205, 2018. doi:10.3390/foods7120205 (Sánchez-Pérez S et al. 2018)
- Comas-Basté O, Sánchez-Pérez S, Veciana-Nogués MT, Latorre-Moratalla M, Vidal-Carou MDC. Histamine Intolerance: The Current State of the Art. Biomolecules 10(8):1181, 2020. doi:10.3390/biom10081181 (Comas-Basté O et al. 2020)
- Sánchez-Pérez S, Comas-Basté O, Veciana-Nogués MT, Latorre-Moratalla ML, Vidal-Carou MC. Low-Histamine Diets: Is the Exclusion of Foods Justified by Their Histamine Content? Nutrients 13(5):1395, 2021. doi:10.3390/nu13051395 (Sánchez-Pérez S et al. 2021)
- Swiss Interest Group Histamine Intolerance (SIGHI). Food compatibility list for histamine intolerance. histaminintoleranz.ch (accessed November 2026), 2026. Link (Swiss Interest Group Histamine Intolerance (SIGHI) 2026)