What makes it smell so strong? I could even smell it on my fingers the day after when adding a pinch to a dish?

Cheers

Steve

It is also known as devil's dung or stinking gum.

From Wikipedia

It is used in most vegetarian and lentil dishes to both add flavor and aroma and reduce flatulence. Asafoetida has certain medicinal uses and most commonly is used as a digestive aid.

When I cook lentils I can tell if I have forgotten to put it in.

I bet you will use a spoon next time :-)

I am always amazed how something smelling so pungent pleasantly mellows on cooking. Apparently is it made from a milky substance in the plant's roots with a high concentration of sulphur hence the smell.

Many medical claims are made for it including for flatulence and asthma. It was thought to ward off coughs & colds - though probably because no one could stand coming near you! Although if I haven't any Olbas oils at home I have found a good sniff on the asafoetisa jar helps clears the nostrils (and head.)

After many years of using the (in my opinion) inferior powdered hing, I managed to obtain the hard-resin variety on a trip to Delhi last week. After triple wrapping this incredibly potent stuff and bringing it back home to Denmark (and triple wrapping it again at my wife's insistence!), I'm now pondering on how one actually uses it! I would imagine in even smaller amounts than the powdered form, but does one need to grind it first or can you just drop tiny pellets of the resin into your tarka?

I really like the smell of asafetida, to me it just smells like really stong onions. My grandad used to say that asafetida is a antispasmodic and he used to rub it on their dog's gums because the dog suffered from fits ... and it worked?apparently ... .

Funny that...my wife fits when she smells the stuff (as she also does with anchovies). How little does she realise that I use both ingredients (albeit judiciously) in so many of our meals!

In some parts of my family it is liberally used, almost as a substitute for onions and garlic, which apparently are prohibited for religious reasons or for the simple reason that many West Bengalis are almost 'snobbily intolerant' of the use of these cousins in the allium genus. What a tragedy!

Hello Danbob

I will look forward to receiving your pictures. Please do not reduce the size too much, so I can work on them, if I need to.

Asafoetida:

I always buy mine in India, where I go at least twice a year. That stuff is quite different and potent than what you get here in UK. If the one you have it in small blocks/lumps, they break very easily if you heat them on a griddle or tawa, mixed with a tsp. of flour. I use chapatti flour. You just need to press the lumps with the back of a spoon and they become powder. You can then store it in an airtight container.

You are quite right. Asafoetida is a must in dishes that are cooked without Onions and garlic, both of which are considered ?Tamsic? foods by many Indians and not eaten, especially on Hindu festivals.

AJW, asafoetida mixed with warm mustard oil is rubbed in baby?s naval help to relieve baby colic. It has been used in India like this for ever.

Mamta

Hi, Mamta. When my American grandmother was a small child, she had to wear an "asafoetida bag" around her neck all winter. Lol, I'm sure it worked -- no one would get close enough to pass on their colds or flu.

I've not used it with the resin form or the powdered version (as I used a teaspoon as I didn't want to go near it !)...but -

I have a thing called "garlic soap" which is basically a soap bar shaped piece of brushed stainless steel ! If you have been cutting onions/leeks/garlic and then use it to wash your hands all over (making sure all the bits that have touched the offending item get a quick rub) then you don't get the after smell. In fact the smell goes away straight away, it even works on the chopping board !

I'm told there isn't anything special about it and using any piece of stainless steel has the same affect !

Steve