History and origin of asafoetida

The name asafoetida comes from the Persian aza, for mastic or resin, and the Latin foetidus, for stinking. 

Asafoetida has been known since 4 BC, when it appeared in ancient Roman cooking, and was an essential component of Persian food.

It was known to early Persians as ‘the food of the Gods’ used it as a condiment, roasted the roots and ate the leaves as greens.

To the Romans it was called Persians sylphium. Asafoetida was exported from ancient Cyrenaica – modern Libya to ancient Greece and Rome, as a medicine, spice, and women’s contraceptive.

It was introduced to India in the Mughal Empire. During the Mughal Dynasty in India, the court singers would eat a spoonful of asafoetida with butter and practice on the banks of the river Yamuna.

Asafoetida was known to Arabian geographers and to travelers of the Middle East. It’s found its way into western European commerce during the Middle Ages through the trading cities of Italy.

In the 13th century the ‘Physician of Myddfai’ in Wakes considered asafoetida to be one of those substances which every physician ‘ought to known and use’.
History and origin of asafoetida