Four Season Asafoetida

Asafoetida is a resinous gum. It has a pungent smell of rotting onions or sulphur. The smell dissipates with cooking. Flavour is unpleasant, like concentrated rotten garlic. When cooked, it adds onion like flavour. Asafoetida is used mostly in Indian Vegetarian cooking in which the strong onion garlic flavour enhances many dishes. It is also suited to many fish dishes and some pappadums are seasoned with asafoetida. All parts of this plant have the distinctive fetid smell. In March & April just before flowering, the stalks are cut closed to the root. A milky liquid oozees out, which tries to form a resin. This is collected and fresh cut is made.