Hing

If you click on the RECIPE link above and browse through the recipes, or if you read one of the books reviewed under the cookbooks link, you will come across an ingredient called hing. You can see what hing looks like in the picture above.

Sometimes called devil's dung or stinking gum, uncooked hing has a pungent sulfur smell that is not particularly appealing. During cooking, hing takes on a tasty caramelized flavor for which is has been prized.

Hing is made from the juice of the giant fennel plant, from which it takes another one of its names: asafoetida. The Latin name of the plant is Ferula asafoetida. Ferula means rod, which describes the long stem of the fennel plant, and asafoetida means fetid resin, or foul-smelling resin.

The plants are crushed and the juice is left to dry to form a resinous substance. The resin is lumpy and hard and difficult use, so manufacturers crush the resin to form a powder that can be measured easily for use in cooking. It is also sometimes mixed with rice flour to prevent it from clumping together.

You can find in hing in any Indian grocery store, and often in health food stores. These days many supermarkets also carry hing.

Lord Krishna and his devotees do not eat onion or garlic, and hing is often used as a replacement for these. Onions and garlic are members of the Allium family of plants. According to Ayurveda, India's ancient medical science, foods can be grouped into three categories – sattvic (goodness), rajasic (passion) and tamasic (ignorance). Onions and garlic and the other Alliums are classified as rajasic and to some extent tamasic. In Ayurveda, they are accordingly considered to increase passion and to some degree ignorance, which would have a detrimental affect on devotional life.

Hing, or asafoetida, is most commonly used in vegetables dishes, or with beans and pulses or pickles. It is also known as a digestive aid and is used worldwide for its medicinal qualities. It is said to lessen flatulence and may be helpful in cases of asthma and bronchitis. It has also been used as a folk remedy for children's colds, which involves mixing it into a paste and hanging it in a bag around the afflicted child's neck. In Thailand it is used to aid babies' digestion and is smeared on the child's stomach in an alcohol tincture known as Mahahing.

Hing adds a special flavor to cooking that people have appreciated for millennia. Get yourself some hing and give it a try.

by Antony Brennan

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