Asafoetida (Hing)
Asafoetida is a gum resin derived from the milky sap of its plant. It has a overwhelming odor which has given rise to at least one of its popular names "Devil's Dung". Asafoetida plant is a native of Persia and Afghanistan. The sap is obtained by an incision on its green matured root.
There are two main varieties of asafoetida ie. Kabuli Sufaid (Milky white asafoetida) and Lal (Red asafoetida). Asafoetida is acrid and bitter in taste and emits a strong disagreeable pungent odour due to the presence of sulphur compounds therein. It is available in three forms ie. ‘Tears’, ‘Mass’ and ‘Paste’. ‘Tears’, is the purest form of resin, rounded or flattened, 5 to 30 mm in diameter and a greyish or dull yellow in colour. ‘Mass’ asafoetida is the common commercial form, uniform in mass. ‘Paste’ form contains extraneous matter.
The major biochemical agent responsible for its characteristic odor is an organic sulfur compound found as part of the essential oil which makes it very similar to the essential oil of garlic for which it is commonly substituted in food preparations.
Commerically available Asafoetida is commonly powdered and adulterated with various substances such as gum arabic, other gum resins, gypsum, red clay, chalk, barley or wheat flour, slices of powdered dried potatoes, etc.
| Language | Name |
|---|---|
| Hindi | Hing |
| Kannda | Hinger |
| Tamil | Perungayam |
| Telugu | Inguva, Ingumo |
According to Indian Materia Medica by Nadkarani in Ayurvedic medicine, it is regarded as a valuable condiment and spice and "a valuable remedy for hysteria, nervous disorders of women and children, flatulence, flatulent colic and spasmodic affections of the bowels especially when connected with hysteria, in fainting and emotional states, nervous palpitations, hypochondriasis and other affections due to hysteria, in the spasmodic, and the obstinate coughs of childhood remaining after attacks of inflammation and also in the advanced stages of whooping cough, pneumonia and bronchitis of children, in the chronic bronchitis and asthma of adults."
It is also regarded in Ayurvedic, Chinese and Western medicine as an effective remedy for worms and other intestinal parasites. This source also goes on to warn that it must be fried before use, as raw and unfried asafoetida will cause nausea and vomiting. The recommended does of the powder is 1 to 2 grain-pill. Another preparation is made by grinding 5 teaspoons of asafoetida in a pint of water in a mortar to make a milky emulsion. Half to one ounce of this is taken at a time.
One of the most common Indian household preparations is Hingashtak which is a compound powder of fried asafoetida, ginger, pippli long pepper, black pepper, ajowan, cumin seeds nigella seeds and rock salt in equal parts. Ten to 20 grains of the powder is taken with the first morsel of rice and clarified butter (ghee) at breakfast. The powder can also be made into pills with lemon juice. Hingashtak is also useful for chronic indigestion and liver stagnation.
