Asafetida

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Name Variations

 * asafoetida powder
 * asafoetida
 * hing
 * devil's dung
 * ferula
 * foetida
 * food of the gods
 * heeng
 * imguva

About Asafetida
Wikipedia Article About Asafetida on Wikipedia

Asafoetida (Ferula assafoetida, family Apiaceae) is a species of Ferula native to Iran. It is a herbaceous perennial plant growing to 2 m tall, with stout, hollow, somewhat succulent stems 5-8 cm diameter at the base of the plant. The leaves are 30-40 cm long, tripinnate or even more finely divided, with a stout basal sheath clasping the stem. The flowers are yellow, produced in large compound umbels.

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 faeces); 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), and also Finnish Pirunpaska. In Turkish, it is known as Şeytantersi, Şeytan bökösu or Şeytanotu (the Devil's Herb). In many of the northern Indian languages (Hindi, Urdu, Gujarati, Punjabi, Marathi, Bengali) it is known as hing. A related name occurs in many Dravidian languages (e.g. Telugu Inguva, Kannada Ingu), but in Tamil, it is known as perungaayam.