|
|
|
Tongue Travels: Asafoetida powder
The Web site for the award-winning alternative weekly, the Philadelphia City Paper.
Tongue Travels: Asafoetida powder
 |
 |
Variously referred to as devil's dung, Hing, food of the gods, stinking gum or giant fennel, asafoetida is a pungent spice that smells earthy and rank when raw, but adds a round, garlic and leek flavor to cooked dishes.� My gypsyish friend Kelly Anura brought the funky seasoning home after a trip to her husband's native India, and showed it to me while cooking dinner the other day. The jar had been wrapped once in Saran and again in a plastic bag to prevent the serious stench from taking over the entire pantry.
Though intense in aroma, asafoetida is prized for its ability to add a savory, umami quality to vegetarian cuisine.� It is particularly prized by the Jains, who do not consume root vegetables, including garlic and onions.� Asafoetida, which reduces the quantity of indigenous microflora living in the human gut,� has also been used for centuries as a natural antiflatulent, and is often stirred into legume dishes or taken as a tea to that end.� A more important, non-culinary use of the resin is being explored now -- Jim Dawson at LiveScience.com writes:
Scientists at the Kaohsiung Medial University in Taiwan have discovered that the roots of a plant used in 1918 to fight the Spanish influenza pandemic produces natural antiviral compounds that kill the swine flu virus, H1N1....In their tests of a group of chemical compounds contained in extracts from the plant, scientists Fang-Rong Chang and Yang-Chan Wu discovered that some of them where more potent in killing the H1N1 virus than a prescription antiviral drug.
The resiny gum of the Ferula assafoetida stem is the result of drying the plant's sap; the prepared spice is a sold as a compounded asifoetida powder, blended with rice flour and gum arabic.� Sources abound on the Web for the compounded powder and liquid.
Also, now that I think about it, I think they use it at Govinda's (they have "hing" as an ingredient on most menu items... all this time I was thinking it was some sort of weird typo).
Actually, it did not so much "spill all over my bag" as "permeate everything within ten feet of my bag" with its particular scent. You can get hing at any of the South Asian grocery stores in Philly -- International Foods & Spices on 42nd and Walnut always seems to have it.
My wife didn't wrap her bottle properly one time on a trip back from India, and it spilled all over her bag. Ugh.
Dan P. -- whoa, that is a huge Ugh.
Rachel, I did not come up with a local source of asafoetida powder. My friend Kelly purchased hers in India, but you can get a variety of sources that will ship it to you for as little at $5 a jar. Thanks for your comment!
you can get asafoetida in sainsbury under the schwartz label for �1.49 or �1.79 im not quite sure about the price its in a jar of 52 gramms.
- barstool scientist
- Booze
- Brew Revue
- Chef Salad
- Closings
- Coffee
- Contests
- Dealage
- Dirty Dishes
- Don't Front
- Eat This Immediately
- Field Trip
- Food and Art
- Food and Holidays
- Food and Movies
- Food and Music
- Food and Politics
- Food and Sports
- Food and Web
- Food Blogs
- Food Books
- Food Events
- Food News
- Food TV
- Gifted
- Happy Hour Hopper
- How-To
- In Print
- Interview
- Meal Ticket
- Menu Time
- Not So Quickfire
- Notes from the Weekend
- On Wheels
- Openings
- Patio Drinking
- Philly Beer Week 2010
- Photos
- Private Chef POV
- Product Placement
- Recipes
- Snack Time
- Stiff Drank
- SUPPER
- Tea
- Testing
- Ticket Stubs
- Top Chef
- Vegan
- Vegetarian
- Video
- Weekly Candy
- Weird Regional Foods
- We're Here to Help
- Where'd We Eat?
- Drew Lazor's Ill-Advised Rant Factory
- Pregame
- Ill-Advised Ranting
- The Week Without Meat
- Philly Beer Week 2009
- Real Big
- Where'd I Eat Last Night?
- Top Chef Masters
- The Good Word
- Next Iron Chef
- Arterial Terrorism
- Food and Radio
