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Asafoetida (Ferula assafoetida) (Persian ‫ اﻧﮕﺪان‬Angedan), alternative spelling Asafoetida

asafetida, ( /æsəˈfɛtɪdə/)[1] (also known as devil's dung, stinking gum, asant,
food of the gods, കായം (Kaayam) (Malayalam), Hing (Assamese, Bengali,
Marathi, Gujarati, Hindi, Urdu, Nepali), Ingua (Telugu), Ingu
(Kannada),"Perungkayang" (Sinhalese), ெப காய (Perungayam)
(Tamil), Hilteet (Mishnaic Hebrew), and giant fennel) is a species of Ferula native
to Persia (Iran). Asafoetida has a pungent, unpleasant smell when raw, but in
cooked dishes, it delivers a smooth flavor, reminiscent of leeks.

1 Uses
1.1 Cooking
1.2 Antiflatulent
1.3 Medical applications Ferula scorodosma syn. assafoetida
1.4 Regional usages Scientific classification
1.5 Other uses Kingdom: Plantae
2 History in the West (unranked): Angiosperms
3 Cultivation and manufacture (unranked): Eudicots
4 Composition
(unranked): Asterids
5 Etymology
6 Other uses Order: Apiales
7 In popular culture Family: Apiaceae
8 See also Genus: Ferula
9 References Species: F. assafoetida
10 External links
Binomial name
Ferula assafoetida
L.

Cooking

This spice is used as a digestive aid, in food as a condiment and in pickles. Its odour, when uncooked, is so strong that it
must be stored in airtight containers; otherwise the aroma will contaminate other spices stored nearby. However, its odour
and flavor become much milder and more pleasant upon heating in oil or ghee, acquiring a taste and aroma reminiscent of
sautéed onion and garlic.[2]

Antiflatulent

Asafoetida reduces the growth of indigenous microflora in the gut, reducing flatulence.[3]

Medical applications

fighting flu - Asafoetida was used in 1918 to fight the Spanish influenza pandemic. Scientists at the Kaohsiung
Medical University in Taiwan report that the roots of Asafoetida produces natural antiviral drug compounds that kill
the swine flu virus, H1N1. In an article published in the American Chemical Society's Journal of Natural Products,
the researchers said the compounds "may serve as promising lead components for new drug development" against
this type of flu.[4][5]
 Digestion - In Thailand, and India it is used to aid digestion and is smeared on the abdomen in an alcohol or water
tincture known as "mahahing."[6]

asthma and bronchitis - It is also said to be helpful in cases of asthma and bronchitis. A folk tradition remedy for
children's colds: it is mixed into a pungent-smelling paste and hung in a bag around the afflicted child's neck.

antimicrobial - Asafoetida has broad uses in traditional medicine as an antimicrobial, with well documented uses for
treating chronic bronchitis and whooping cough, as well as reducing flatulence.[7]

contraceptive/abortifacient - Asafoetida has also been reported to have contraceptive/abortifacient activity,[8] and is
related (and considered an inferior substitute to) the ancient Ferula species Silphium.

antiepileptic - Asafoetida oleo-gum-resin has been reported to be antiepileptic in classical Unani as well as
ethnobotanical literature.[9]

balancing the vata - In Ayurveda, asafoetida is considered to be one of the best spices for balancing the vata
dosha.[10]

Regional usages

In the Jammu region of India, asafoetida is used as a medicine for flatulence and constipation by 60% of locals.[11]
It is used especially by the merchant caste of the Hindus and by adherents of Jainism and Vaishnavism, who do not
eat onions or garlic. It is used in many vegetarian and lentil dishes to add both flavor and aroma, as well as to reduce
flatulence.

Other uses

Bait - John C Duval reported in 1936 that the odor of asafoetida is attractive to the wolf, a matter of common
knowledge, he says, along the Texas/Mexico border. It is also used as one of several possible scent baits, most
notably for catfish and pike.

Repelling spirits - In Jamaica, asafoetida is traditionally applied to a baby's anterior fontanel (Jamaican patois
"mole") in order to prevent spirits (Jamaican patois "duppies") from entering the baby through the fontanel. In the
African-American Hoodoo tradition, asafoetida is used in magic spells as it is believed to have the power both to
protect and to curse. In ceremonial magick especially from The Key of Solomon the King, it is used to protect the
magus from daemonic forces and to evoke the same and bind them.

It was familiar in the early Mediterranean, having come by land across Iran. Though it is generally forgotten now in
Europe, it is still widely used in India (commonly known there as Hing). It emerged into Europe from a conquering
expedition of Alexander the Great, who after returning from a trip to north-eastern Persia, thought they had found a plant
almost identical to the famed Silphium of Cyrene in North Africa – though less tasty. Dioscorides, in the first century,
wrote that, "the Cyrenaic kind, even if one just tastes it, at once arouses a humour throughout the body and has a very
healthy aroma, so that it is not noticed on the breath, or only a little; but the Median [Iranian] is weaker in power and has a
nastier smell". Nevertheless, it could be substituted for silphium in cooking, which was fortunate, because a few decades
after Dioscorides's time, the true silphium of Cyrene went extinct, and Asafoetida became more popular amongst
physicians as well as cooks.[12]

After the Roman Empire fell, until the 16th century, asafoetida was rare in Europe, and if ever encountered, it was viewed
as a medicine. "If used in cookery, it would ruin every dish because of its dreadful smell", asserted García de Orta's
European guest. Nonsense, García replied, "nothing is more widely used in every part of India, both in medicine and in
cookery. All the Hindus who can afford it buy it to add to their food."[12]

The resin-like gum which comes from the dried sap extracted from the stem and roots is used as a spice. The resin is
greyish-white when fresh, but dries to a dark amber color. The asafoetida resin is difficult to grate, and is traditionally
crushed between stones or with a hammer. Today, the most commonly available form is compounded asafoetida, a fine
powder containing 30% asafoetida resin, along with rice flour and gum arabic.

Ferula assafoetida is an herbaceous, monoecious, perennial plant of the family Umbelliferae, also called Apiaceae. It
grows to 2 meters high with a circular mass of 30–40 cm leaves. Stem leaves have wide sheathing petioles. Flowering
stems are 2.5–3 meters high and 10 cm thick and hollow, with a number of schizogenous ducts in the cortex containing the
resinous gum. Flowers are pale greenish yellow produced in large compound umbels. Fruits are oval, flat, thin, reddish
brown and have a milky juice. Roots are thick, massive, and pulpy. They yield a resin similar to that of the stems. All parts
of the plant have the distinctive fetid smell.[13]

It may be interesting to note that assafoetida is consumed largely by those practitioners of specific forms of meditation or
vegetarism whereby garlic and onion consumption are highly discouraged by virtue of their nature to excite the nervous
system. For those believers, assafoetida replaces onions and garlic by taste and by content in order to maintain a "sattvic"
diet. (Source: Roshan T. T. Chikhuri, Safety and Health Consultant and Expert Facilitator in Community Health -
Mauritius)

Typical asafoetida contains about 40-64% resin, 25% endogeneous gum, 10-17% volatile oil, and 1.5-10% ash. The resin
portion is known to contain asaresinotannols 'A' and 'B', ferulic acid, umbelliferone and four unidentified compounds.[14]

Asafoetida's English and scientific name is derived from the Persian word for resin (asa) and Latin foetida, which refers to
its strong sulfurous odour. Its pungent odour has resulted in its being called by many unpleasant names; thus in French it is
known (among other names) as merde du diable (devil's shit); in some dialects of English too it was known as devil's
dung, and equivalent names can be found in most Germanic languages (e.g. German Teufelsdreck,[15] Swedish
dyvelsträck, Dutch duivelsdrek, Afrikaans duiwelsdrek), also in Finnish pirunpaska or pirunpihka. In Turkish, it is known
as şeytantersi (devil's sweat), şeytan boku (devil's shit) or şeytanotu (the devil's herb). In many of the Indo-Aryan
languages it is known as hing or "heeng". Another name occurs in many Dravidian languages (e.g. Telugu inguva,
Kannada ingu), Tamil (perungaayam) and Malayalam kaayam. The original Persian name for the plant is ‫ اﻧﮕﺪان‬angedan
which may also sometimes be arabicized to ‫ اﻧﺠﺪان‬anjedan. The Persian name for the dried sap of asafoetida is ‫ﺁﻧﻐﻮزﻩ‬
anghouzeh.

In India, industrial cooking gas sold in metal containers is often scented with asafoetida. The scented gas has a distinctive
strong sulphurous, garlic-like odour which helps to detect any possible leakage of gas quickly.

In the movie El Dorado (1967), asafoetida was a component of a hangover remedy that was introduced by James Caan's
character "Mississippi".

Antiflatulent

1. ^ Oxford English Dictionary. asafœtida. Second edition, 3. ^ S. K. GARG, A. C. BANERJEA, J. VERMA. and M. J.
1989. ABRAHAM, EFFECT OF VARIOUS TREATMENTS
2. ^ http://www.pataks.co.uk/cooking/spices/asafoetida.php OF PULSES ON IN VITRO GAS PRODUCTION BY
 SELECTED INTESTINAL CLOSTRIDIA. Journal of
Food Science, Volume 45, Issue 6 (p 1601-1602).
4. ^ Lee, CL; Chia-Lin Lee, Lien-Chai Chiang, Li-Hung
Cheng, Chih-Chuang Liaw, Mohamed H. Abd El-Razek,
Fang-Rong Chang, Yang-Chang Wu (August 19, 2009
(Web)). "Influenza A (H1N1) Antiviral and Cytotoxic
Agents from Ferula assa-foetida". Journal of Natural
Products xxx (xx): 1568–72. doi:10.1021/np900158f
(http://dx.doi.org/10.1021%2Fnp900158f) .
PMID 19691312 (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed
/19691312) .
5. ^ Ancient Chinese Remedy May Work for Flu
http://www.livescience.com/health/090910-
flu-remedy.html
6. ^ http://www.thaitanthai.com/product_info.php/cPath
/46/products_id/491
7. ^ Srinivasan, K.(2005)'Role of Spices Beyond Food
Flavoring: Nutraceuticals with Multiple Health
Effects',Food Reviews International,21:2,167 — 188
8. ^ Riddle, John M. 1992. Contraception and abortion from
the ancient world to the Renaissance. Harvard University
Press p. 28 and references therein.
9. ^ Traditional Systems of Medicine By Abdin, M Z Abdin,
Y P Abrol. Published 2006 Alpha Science Int'l Ltd. ISBN
Botany, etymology, uses - detailed (http://www.uni-
graz.at/~katzer/engl/Feru_ass.html)
Off-the-Wall baits for persnikity catfish
(http://www.gameandfishmag.com/fishing/catfish-
fishing/gf_aa086704a/)
additional facts, sample recipe using in place of garlic
(http://allfoodsnatural.com/condiments/97-spices
/313-asafoetida.html)
Additional information from Ammini Ramachandran
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asafoetida"
Categories: Edible Apiaceae | Medicinal plants | Antiflatulents | Spices | Resins
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81-7319-707-5
10. ^ pg. 74, The Ayurvedic Cookbook by Amadea
Morningstar with Urmila Desai, Lotus Light, 1991. ISBN
978-0-914955-06-1.
11. ^ Hemla Aggarwal and Nidhi Kotwal. Foods Used as
Ethno-medicine in Jammu. Ethno-Med, 3(1): 65-68 (2009)
12. ^ a b Dangerous Tastes: The Story of Spices By Andrew
Dalby. Published 2000 University of California Press
Spices/ History 184 pages ISBN 0-520-23674-2
13. ^ Abstract from Medicinal Plants of the World, Volume 3
Chemical Constituents, Traditional and Modern Medicinal
Uses. Humana Press. ISBN 978-1-58829-129-5 (Print)
978-1-59259-887-8 (Online) DOI
10.1007/978-1-59259-887-8_6 Author: Ivan A. Ross
http://www.springerlink.com/content/k358h1m6251u5053/
14. ^ Handbook of Indices of Food Quality and Authenticity
By Rekha S. Singhal, Pushpa R. Kulkarni. Published 1997
Woodhead Publishing Food industry and trade ISBN
1-85573-299-8 ... Note there is more good information
about the composition in this reference, page 395.
15. ^ Thomas Carlyle's well-known 19th century novel Sartor
Resartus concerns a German philosopher named
Teufelsdröckh.
(http://www.sallys-place.com/food/columns
/ramachandran/asafoetida.htm)
Saudi Aram article on the history of asafoetida.
(http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/200904
/devil.s.dung-the.world.s.smelliest.spice.htm)
Exporter, Importer and Manufacturer of
Compounded Asafoetida and Spices
(http://www.annapurnahingindia.com/index.htm)