- Type
- Herbs & Aromatics
- Difficulty
- Hard
- Season
- -
- Sowing
- Not cultivated
Asafoetida
Ferula assa-foetida
Sulfur compounds · the Indian spice known as hing
Asafoetida is the dried resin of a tall umbellifer that grows on the dry uplands of Iran and Afghanistan. At the source the root crown is cut and the milky gum that seeps out is scraped off over several rounds and left to set; the Donguibogam describes the same thing, saying that cutting the stem releases a sap like malt syrup which hardens into a firm mass called awi. This is what Indian cooking calls hing, and opening the jar delivers a sharp, penetrating smell first. Warm it in oil, though, and the smell settles into something close to fried onion and garlic. That is exactly why it took the place of onion and garlic in the Indian vegetarian kitchens that leave both out. Most powder on sale is not pure resin but resin cut with wheat or rice flour to soften the aroma, so anyone avoiding wheat has to read the ingredient list. A single pinch is plenty for a pot serving four. The smell travels to whatever sits beside it, so a glass jar inside a sealed bag is the sensible way to store it.
Where It Grows
- Origin The arid plateaus of eastern Khorasan and the foothills of the Zagros Mountains are its place of origin and remain a major production area today.
- Main producer Most of the world's traded supply comes from the semi-arid highlands around Herat and Kandahar.
- Wild population Wild populations survive on the dry slopes of the Central Asian steppe.
The arid highlands of Iran and Afghanistan are both its place of origin and its production area today. The harvest is taken by cutting the root crown of a plant that has grown for several years, letting the sap that oozes out harden, and gathering it, so this is not a crop planted and harvested each year like a field crop; a plant that has been tapped blooms and then dies. India uses more of it than any other country, yet imports nearly all of what it uses, and in 2020 it began trial cultivation in the cold drylands of Lahaul in Himachal Pradesh. It is not grown in Korea's climate.
- Optimum
- 10~20℃
- Range
- 5~35℃
- Hardiness
- Hardy
This is a dryland plant of high plateaus at 600–2,400 m above sea level, where rain is scarce (80–350 mm annual precipitation) and sunlight is strong. It grows best at temperatures of 10–20℃, and its thick roots carry it through summer heat of 35℃ and winter cold of around –10℃. Moisture is its greatest weakness: where water pools, the roots rot.
How to grow
- Light
- It grows on the bright, low-rainfall uplands of Iran and Afghanistan. It is not cultivated in Korea
- Soil and depth
- A large umbellifer perennial that drives a thick, deep root into dry, stony ground
- Spacing
- Supermarkets and spice counters sell it as powder in a small jar. The lump form turns up in Indian grocers
- Watering
- Damp is the thing to guard against. Moisture softens the lump and cakes the powder solid
- Feeding
- When buying, read the ingredient list. Most product is cut with wheat or rice flour, and the proportion decides how strong the aroma runs
- Harvest
- At the source the root crown of a plant several years old is cut, and the milky exudate is scraped off over repeated visits across several days before it is left to set
What makes the difference. If you bought the lump, scrape off a little with a knife tip each time. Crushing the whole piece at once loses the aroma quickly
Why this one is harder. It is a dry-country plant that cannot be grown outdoors in Korea, and what is used is not the plant but its hardened resin. Buying it is the only route, and most of the care it needs is a matter of managing smell and moisture
Common problems
- Moisture You will see The powder cakes into lumps and the aroma goes flat What to do Move it into a glass jar that keeps damp out and add a desiccant. The refrigerator is worse, since condensation forms every time it comes out
- Odour transfer You will see Spices and tea stored nearby start to smell of asafoetida What to do Keep the lidded jar inside a sealed bag, stored apart. Do not use plastic containers
- Pantry insects You will see Webbing through the powder, or small moths appearing in the cupboard What to do Discard that jar, empty the cupboard and wipe it out. Move the remaining spices into airtight containers
This page describes how a crop is grown and used. It does not claim health effects for any food, nor is it intended to prevent or treat disease. Component and study notes are references only and do not mean the same result occurs in people. Consult a medical professional about health concerns.
Health Benefits
The old record — awi (阿魏). The Donguibogam lists it in the Herb section as 阿魏. Its nature is set down as warm, with a note that some call it hot, its taste as pungent, and it is described as having no toxicity. It records that the material comes from Persia, and that cutting the stem releases a sap like malt syrup which sets hard over time into what is called awi. In form it is likened to peach-tree gum; the black kind is dismissed as unusable and the yellow, crumbly kind graded highest. For preparation it says to grind it to powder first and pass it over a vessel of hot wine, and it adds that a thing so foul-smelling should itself stop smells is a curiosity. What an old medical text wrote differs from how it is judged today.
The old test of authenticity. The original also records a way of telling true material from false. Half a su of it left overnight in a fired copper vessel was judged genuine if the spot it touched turned silver-white with no trace of red. It is not a method used today, but it shows how an old record went about sorting its materials.
Analyses of the odour compounds. Analyses report that the smell of asafoetida comes from volatile disulfide-type sulfur compounds. Measurements also report that heating changes the makeup of that fraction. These are compositional analyses and nothing beyond that.
Nutrition
- Sulfur compounds (the source of the characteristic smell) — volatile disulfide-type sulfur compounds
- Essential oil (in both lump and powder) — volatile fraction that changes markedly with heat
- Resin and gum (the body of the hardened exudate) — resin and gum that cloud the water they disperse into
The smell and its sulfur compounds Analyses report that the characteristic smell of asafoetida comes from volatile disulfide-type sulfur compounds. The same family of compounds carries the smell of onion and garlic. Warming it in oil alters those compounds and with them the character of the aroma.
What is actually in the jar Most hing powder on sale is not pure resin but resin cut with wheat or rice flour to soften the aroma. Anyone avoiding wheat should read the ingredient list on the back before buying. Rice-flour versions are available.
How much to use A pinch is enough for a pot serving four. More does not deepen the aroma; it pushes bitterness and a raw edge to the front. This is not a spice measured out by the teaspoon into a curry.
Heat changes it Cold from the jar it is pungent, but a few seconds in hot oil turns it toward fried onion and garlic. That is why Indian cooking bursts its spices in oil before anything else goes in. Burn it, though, and only bitterness is left, so keep the heat moderate and the time short.
Pairings
○ Bloom it in oil first — Drop a pinch into hot oil, wait a few seconds, then add everything else. Keeping that order is what removes the raw edge. It scorches fast over high heat, so work at medium.
○ Pulses and lentils — Dal and chickpea dishes are its most common home. It clears the heavy finish of the pulses and opens room for savoury depth. In cooking without garlic, it stands in that place.
○ With cumin and turmeric — Burst cumin seed in oil, add the asafoetida, then the turmeric — the standard order in an Indian kitchen. The three aromas stack in layers. Turmeric goes last so it leaves colour without turning bitter.
△ Never given to infants — Cases of methaemoglobinaemia have been reported in infants given asafoetida in water. A folk practice of settling a baby's colic with it is handed down, but it is not used for young infants. Treat asafoetida strictly as a spice for adult cooking.
△ Read the label if wheat is a problem — Retail hing powder is frequently cut with wheat flour, so anyone avoiding gluten should check the back of the jar before buying. Look for pure resin or a rice-flour blend. Repacked bags without an ingredient list are best skipped.
△ Store it away from other spices — The smell is strong enough to transfer straight into whatever sits beside it. Keep it in a lidded glass jar inside a sealed bag, on its own. A plastic container takes on the smell permanently and cannot be reused for anything else.
Varieties
- Lump asafoetida (form) — The hardened resin sold in pieces. The strongest smell of the forms; scrape or crush it as needed
- Compounded hing powder (form) — Cut with wheat or rice flour to soften the aroma. Nearly all retail product takes this form
- Yellow versus black (grade) — The Donguibogam graded the yellow, crumbly kind highest and dismissed the black
Source: Donguibogam, Herb Section 阿魏 · Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, Food Safety Korea