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Asafoetida

Name: Asafoetida
SKU: P523665
Price: 20.0 CAD
Availability: InStock

C$20.00

Product Details

Asafoetida is a pungent spice that is derived from resin of the root of the Ferula plant. The plant is native to the Middle East, where the resin is dried and exported.

Although asafoetida is a savory culinary herb with a mild smell when cooked, it absolutely reeks when raw or dried. It is used as a flavor enhancer in Indian cuisine, where it is called hing.

Perhaps because of its pungent odour - referred to in-house, as "Stinky Magical Onion" - asafoetida has a long history of spiritual use.

In the African-American tradition of hoodoo, it was known as “Devil’s Dung,” (because of its funky smell) and is used to repel evil, undo jinxes and for protection.

Like rue, asafoetida has also been used as a protective amulet. Its pungent odor was thought to repel evil and illness. In the Pennsylvania Dutch community, asafoetida is called deiwelsdreck (devil’s dung). When mixed with cinquefoil, wormwood and other herbs, it was used to protect houses and barns from unwanted entry by spirits. Rolled into tiny bundles and worn around the neck, it is said to protect one from illness and unholy influences.

This practice was also observed in Appalachia and the Ozarks, where chunks of “asfidity” or “acifidity” were worn around the neck to ward off influenza and other diseases. There may actually be some validity to the theory that asafoetida prevents illness due to its intrinsic antiviral properties, but its powers may be at least partially attributable to the fact that its stench causes others to keep their distance.

Scott Cunningham recommends it's use in many banishing, exorcism and protection incenses and mixes.

Asafoetida tends to be rather expensive due to it being a difficult crop to grow, and process.

Asafoetida