Ranking Spice

A lot of people have no idea what asafetida is. The last time it really had a place in American life was during the murderous influenza epidemic that followed World War I, when many people wore little sacks of asafetida around their necks in the hope it would protect them.

And why would this venerable spice save them from flu? Because it has a sulfurous smell, rather like stale garlic (“asa fetida” means stinking gum in Latin; the spice is harvested by scraping the root of the plant and gathering the thick dried sap that appears). Unfortunately, asafetida didn’t help against the flu, though its heart was doubtless in the right place.

These days, apart from being used in some commercially produced condiments such as Worcestershire sauce, asafetida is basically a flavoring of Indian food; the Indian name is hing. You’ve tasted hing if you’ve ever eaten the paper-thin lentil wafers called pappadum, and it shows up in fresh relishes and most Indian pickles. To an extent, it’s a substitute for garlic, which Brahmins aren’t allowed to eat.

But some people have always liked the rank, aggressive flavor of asafetida for its own sake. The most expensive spice in Roman days, laser, is believed to have been asafetida. And in its original Iranian home, it had royal connotations. During the Middle Ages, the chefs of Baghdad still sometimes made dishes called kisrawiyya, named for the Persian king Chosroes and scrupulously ranked up with asafetida.