Asafoetida

Asafoetida
Ferula scorodosma syn. assafoetida
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Eudicots
(unranked): Asterids
Order: Apiales
Family: Apiaceae
Genus: Ferula
Species: F. assafoetida
Binomial name
Ferula assafoetida
L.

Asafoetida (Ferula assafoetida) (Persian انگدان Angedan), alternative spelling asafetida, pronounced /æsəˈfɛtɨdə/[1] (also known as devil's dung, stinking gum, asant, food of the gods, Kaayam (Malayalam), Hing (Assamese, Bengali, Marathi, Gujarati, Hindi, Urdu, Nepali), Ingua (Telugu), Ingu (Kannada),"Perungkayang" (Sinhalese), 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.

Contents

Uses

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

Regional usages

Other uses

History in the West

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]

Cultivation and manufacture

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)

Composition

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 asareninotannols 'A' and 'B', ferulic acid, umbelliferone and four unidentified compounds.[14]

Etymology

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 انگدان angedan which may also sometimes be arabicized to انجدان anjedan. The Persian name for the dried sap of asafoetida is آنغوزه anghouzeh.

Other uses

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.

See also

Popular Culture

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

References

  1. ↑ Oxford English Dictionary. asafœtida. Second edition, 1989.
  2. ↑ http://www.pataks.co.uk/cooking/spices/asafoetida.php
  3. ↑ S. K. GARG, A. C. BANERJEA, J. VERMA. and M. J. ABRAHAM, EFFECT OF VARIOUS TREATMENTS 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. PMID 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 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. ↑ 12.0 12.1 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.

External links

Edible Apiaceae

Ajwain • Alepidea peduncularis • Alexanders • Anise • Anthriscus sylvestris • Apium prostratum • Arracacha • Asafoetida • Bunium persicum • Caraway • Carrot • Celeriac • Celery • Centella asiatica • Chaerophyllum bulbosum • Chervil • Cicely • Coriander • Crithmum • Cryptotaenia • Cumin • Daucus pusillus • Dill • Echinophora sibthorpiana • Erigenia bulbosa • Eryngium foetidum • Fennel • Garden Angelica • Ground-elder • Heracleum persicum • Lomatium • Lomatium parryi • Lovage • Masterwort • Oenanthe javanica • Osmorhiza • Parsley • Parsnip • Perideridia • Radhuni • Ridolfia segetum • Sium sisarum