What It Is

• Asafoetida is one of many spices and herbs from the extended carrot family, but it's produced through a very different process. Rather than harvesting its leaves or seeds, the large tap root is deliberately injured, so its sap will ooze through the scraped spots and congeal. This dried sap is the spice itself. It contains a range of potent sulfur-based flavor and aroma compounds, which -- in their native form -- are decidedly unpleasant, giving rise to nicknames such as "devil's dung" for the spice. Even its proper name shares a root with the word fetid, and for good reason. Yet, this malodorous spice is essential to Indian cookery.

A Magical Transformation

• When you drop a pinch of asafoetida into hot fat, either the ghee of Indian cookery or a light-tasting Western vegetable oil, it changes utterly. Its flavor infuses into the hot fat and rapidly mellows, as its volatile sulfur-based molecules reshape themselves. The complex flavor that results is often compared to onions and garlic, which gain their flavors from similar compounds, but this comparison is barely adequate. Asafoetida gives dishes an undefinable richness and savor that usually can only be gotten from meats and animal fat. The largely vegetarian cuisines of southern India, in particular, benefit from this.

Early or Late

• In many dishes, asafoetida is used early in the cooking process to provide a base of flavor. Add it to your hot fat before any other spices. After 15 to 20 seconds, its distinctive body-odor smell will mellow and become appetizing and savory. At this stage, add your remaining spices and proceed with the recipe. Alternatively, many recipes call for a "tarka" -- a few tablespoons of intensely flavored oil -- to be added at the end, as a finishing touch. Use the same technique, mellowing the asafoetida first and then adding mustard seeds, cumin or other spices as desired.

Suggested Pairings

• Asafoetida lends interest and savor to a wide range of dishes, but it's most commonly used with relatively mild-flavored ingredients such as potatoes, cauliflower and, of course, the galaxy of legume dishes that form the backbone of the subcontinent's cookery. Its popularity in those standards is only partly culinary. As with ginger and turmeric, asafoetida is considered a carminative -- a reducer of gas and flatulence -- making it doubly valuable in a bean-based cuisine.

Purchasing and Storing

• The spice is sold in Indian and other ethnic groceries, and is also available from a variety of online suppliers. It's sometimes found in lump form, the original and purest version, but in the interest of ease of use it's more commonly sold as a powder. Powdered asafoetida is first ground, then mixed with barley flour or other anti-caking ingredients to keep it free-flowing. Lump asafoetida must be crushed before it's used. If you find that the asafoetida's odor escapes from its bottle or can, wrap it in a plastic zip-top bag, and then seal it in an airtight plastic container or large glass jar.