Although totally unrelated to the alliaceous vegetable there is one other aromatic plant material which has a profile not unlike that of garlic.
Asafetida (or devil’s dung) is an oleo-gum-resin obtained from the thick fleshy roots of an umbelliferous plant, Ferula foetida, and allied species which are found throughout Afghanistan and Iran.
The latex is collected by incising the plant at the top of the main root.
The dried gum when steam distilled yields 5- 15% of an orange brown of having a pungent, strongly garlic like odor.
The components responsible for this character have yet to be studied but are mainly di- and tri- sulfites.
The name of asafetida is derived from the Persian word aza, meaning resin, the Latin word foetida, meaning fetid or bad smelling.
Asafetida was known to early Persians as “the food of the Gods” and to Romans who used it to flavor sauce and wines as Persian sylphium.
European equated its smell to truffles and the French flavored mutton during the early Middle Ages, after which, its use declined.
In ancient India and Iran, asafetida was used as a condiment and as a medicine. Today, asafetida is commonly used in the vegetarian cooking of South India and Bengal.
Asafetida (Ferula foetida, Regel)
