Devil's dung or dinner delight? The story behind hing, one of India's most divisive ingredients

An appetizer or an abhorrent? A medicine or a pesticide? Asafoetida sounds innocent enough, but to say it has a powerful smell would be an understatement.

"It bridged the gap of flavors of onion and garlic that were prohibited due to religious beliefs in the largely vegetarian Indian communities such as Jain, Marwari and Gujarati. Despite the culinary diversity of India, hing is a constant."Ramji admits that the smell can be a challenge: Raw hing has been compared to rotten cabbage. It's even been given the nickname"But a small amount goes a long way. Talwar advises that you put a miniscule amount of hing into hot oil.

"The popular theory is that Alexander's army encountered asafoetida in the Hindu Kush mountains and mistook it for the rare silphium plant, which has similar characteristics to asafoetida," explains culinary historian Dr. Ashish Chopra.

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