A bitter, foul-smelling gum resin from giant fennel plants, used as a spice in Indian and Asian cooking and historically in medicine.
From Persian aza 'mastic resin' + Latin fetidus 'stinking.' The compound literally means 'stinking resin,' named for its pungent sulfurous odor.
Asafetida smells absolutely disgusting in the jar but transforms into something delicious when cooked—it's used in Indian cuisine to replace onions and garlic in certain dishes, and medieval Europeans thought it cured everything.
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