ASAFOETIDA

Asafoetida, a spice from the Indian peninsula also commonly known as food of the gods is nothing but a dried gum extracted from the taproot of a perennial herb called Ferula. Ferula grows to a height of 1-1.5 meters which is indigenous to the mountains of Afghanistan but is mainly cultivated in India. Raw asafoetida has a very pungent and an unpleasant smell which is why it is also known as stinking gum. It gives a very smooth flavor when added to cooked dishes. There are two main varieties of asafoetida ie. Hing Kabuli Sufaid (creamy white asafoetida) and Hing Lal (Red asafoetida). The white variety is water soluble and the other variety is oil soluble. Pure asafoetida is not chosen due to its physically powerful flavor, it is assorted with a starch and a stick of gum and sold as compounded asafoetida generally in bricket structure. It is also available in powder form or in capsule forms.

In India, asafoetida has lot of common regional names. In Hindi, Bengali, Gujarati, Urdu, Punjabi and Marathi its called hing. In Tamil it is called as perungaayam. In Kashmiri it is called as the yang and sap.
In Malayalam it is called as kayam, in Oriya it is called as hengu. In Sanskrit it is called as badika and agudagandhu. In Telugu it is called as inguva or ingumo.

If we go through the history of asafoetida it is understood that asafoetida has come by land across Iran from European countries. It is believed that it went into Europe from a dominant expedition of Alexander The Great, who, after recurring from a journey to northeastern Persia, thought they had found a plant approximately the same to the famed Silphium of Cyrene in North Africa, though less flavorsome. Discords, in the early century, wrote, "the Cyrenaica kind, even if one just tastes it, at once arouses a funniness all through the body and has a very strong healthy fragrance, so that it is not noticed on the inhalation, or only a little; but the Iranian is weaker in clout and has a foul aroma".

Nevertheless, it could be used as a substitute for Silphium in cooking, which was lucky, because a few decades subsequent to Dioscorides's time, the true Silphium of Cyrene became vanished, and asafoetida became more accepted in the midst of physicians, as well as Cooks. After the fall of the Roman empire in the 16th century, asafoetida became rare in Europe and if ever encountered, it was seen and used as a medicine. But in India it still widely used in both the fields of cooking and medicine.

The main habitat of asafoetida is cultivable beds and is cultivated mainly due its wide range of use in medicinal fields and cookery field. Leaves and juvenile shoots of asafoetida plants are cooked as a vegetable. The plant has a fetid odor, but this disappears when it is boiled. The cabbage-like folded heads are eaten uncooked as a delicacy. Roots need to be steeped in order to take away the unpleasantness. Starch extracted from the roots is used to prepare porridge. A gum-resin from the root is used as a food flavoring agent.

Asafoetida as told earlier is mainly used in the field of cooking and medicine:

It is a necessary ingredient of Worcester sauce. It is also used to flavor a broad collection of dishes and drinks. It is popular in the normal food cuisine as a garlic substitute. The resin obtained from this plant is most likely the foulest-smelling of all herbs. However, in sensible quantities it gives an astonishingly agreeable flavor to a lot of foods.The wide use of asafoetida in cooking is because of its digestive aid behavior and a condiment. It characteristically works as a savor enhancer and, used along with turmeric, which is a standard component of Indian cuisine, particularly in lentil curries, such as dal, as well as in abundant vegetable dishes.

In India it is widely used in Karnataka cuisine, Gujarati cuisine and Tamilnadu cuisine, which is mainly vegetarian, and is frequently used to tone sweet, sour, salty and spicy components in food. It is used to trademark the savor of Karnataka Saaru, Tamilnadu sambar -a saucy curry made with cereals and lentils. Asafoetida is the main constituent of dishes like Soya Mutter Ki Subzi (Indian), Spicy Mushroom Enchiladas (Mexican), Kuai - Tiao Phat - Khil Mao (Thai), etc.In its unadulterated form, its odor is so physically powerful that the smell will contaminate other spices stored close by if it is not stored in an airtight container. Many commercial preparations of asafoetida make use of the resin ground up and is mixed with a bigger quantity of wheat flour. The combination is sold in preserved plastic containers with a minute hole at the crown, allowing the weak spice to be dusted flippantly over the food being cooked. However, its odor and flavor becomes much milder and adds pleasantness upon heating in oil ghee, acquiring a taste and aroma much similar to that of of sautéed onion and garlic.

Asafoetida has a wide range of application in the field of medicine. Asafoetida has the capability to slow-down the growth of microflora in the rectum that in return reduces flatulence. It has antibiotic properties due to which it is used to keep small children healthy. It also helps in fighting influenza and scientists claim that the roots of asafoetida have the property to produce antiviral drugs that can kill viruses like swine flu virus. In traditional countries like India and Thailand asafoetida is used to treat indigestion by smudging it on the abdomen with a small amount of alcohol or water. It is said that asafoetida should not be taken by pregnant women because it has the property of a contraceptive. In ayurveda asafoetida is believed to be one of the best spices to balance vata dosha.

There is a folklore that states that asafoetida can be used to treat asthma and and bronchitis and it is also used as a medicine to cure children's cold. Asafoetida also has lot of myths. Jamaican myths say that asafoetida is a spirit repeller. In African-American Hoodoo tradition it is believed that asafoetida can be used in magic spells as it has the ability to curse and protect. It is also used to protect humans from demonic forces, to induce the same and connect with them.