Asafoetida Nutritional Ingredients And Health Benefits

A common culinary herb, asafetida is used to flavor spicy curries, stir-fries, sauces and in pickles. In India, this herb is known as ‘hing’ and is used while cooking lentils and a whole lot of other spicy dishes. It’s not just the flavor that makes asafetida so popular with people; it has several health benefits too. Let’s learn more about asafoetida health and benefits of asafoetida.

Asafoetida Health Benefits

• Asafoetida is good for relieving flatulence and also cures spasmodic disorders.
• Asafoetida is also believed to be a cure for hysteria. If you inhale the gum, it can prevent attacks of hysteria.
  
  
  A mixture of gum and water is often administered through the rectum when giving oral dosages is not possible.
• Asafoetida is used to treat respiratory problems like bronchitis, asthma and whooping cough. The medicinal recipe for this medicinal concoction is – 3-6 cm of asafetida gum with 2 spoons of honey, a spoonful of betel leaf juice and a quarter spoon of white onion juice. If a person suffering from a respiratory disorder takes this concoction thrice a day, he/she will recover quickly.
• Asafoetida is also used to treat nervous disorders in children.
  
  
  
• Asafoetida is supposed to be useful in treating a host of problems in women, like leucorrhoea, difficult and painful menstruation, premature labor, unwanted abortion and sterility.
• Another of asafetida health benefits includes treating impotency. It is said that a mixture of 6 centigrams of asafetida, fried in ghee/clarified butter and mixed with a spoonful of fresh latex from a banyan tree and honey, should be taken every day for 40 consecutive days before sunrise.
• Asafoetida is also good for stomach disorders.
  
  
  It is a good cure for flatulence and excessive gas, and is also good for digestion.
• Asafoetida is prescribed to women after childbirth. Since it is good for digestion and has anti-flatulence properties, this herb is beneficial for women during the post-delivery period.
• Asafoetida can bring relief from a toothache.
  
  
  Pounced in lemon juice, asafetida becomes warm, a quality that brings relief to an aching tooth. Then a cotton swab dabbed in this mixture can be placed on the cavity to bring relief.
• This herb acts as an antidote to opium and often administered to opium addicts.
• Asafoetida is a sedative and it can also help in lowering blood pressure. It is also said to thin the blood. Thus, while asafetida is good for adults, it isn’t good for infants.
• Since asafetida has an unpleasant smell, it acts as a natural pesticide.
• According to mythology, asafetida can banish demons, evil spirits and negative energy. People also use this herb to invoke male gods – those of a phallic nature.

Asafetida is a hard resinous gum. It is grayish white when fresh and darken with age to yellow and then to brown. It is either sold as a crystallized or granulated fine yellow powder or in pieces or blocks as gum. It has a pungent odor, like that or rotting onions or sculpture. It has even been likened to rotting garlic. This smell dissipates when cooking and leaves behind a delicate garlic and onion flavor.  It can be used in minute quantities and is mainly used in Indian vegetarian cooking. It can be added directly to the cooking medium or steeping in water. This is mainly used in western and certain types of Indian cuisine. While cooking you need to only add a pinch of this. If you do not have asafetida on hand, you can use a few cloves of slivered garlic.  Alternatively, you can use a little more than 1/2 cup of finely diced onion along with a garlic clove.
 

Asafetida benefits

The asafetida herb has many health benefits. It has long been known for its medicinal value and has been used in herbal remedies for various problems. Asafetida benefits are as follows:

• Inhaling the gum can prevent attacks of hysteria. If an oral dosage cannot be administered, then a mixture of the gum and water is given through the rectum.
• Asafetida is also effective in curing spasmodic disorders.
• It is good for relieving flatulence and helps in digestion as well.
• Asafetida can also relieve one of toothache pain. Mix it with lemon juice and dip a cotton swab in this mixture. Apply it to the aching tooth for relief.
• Asafetida is an antidote to opium and is often given to opium addicts for this very reason.
• This herb is also effective in treating internal worms.

What is asafetida?

Asafetida is known as “hing” in Hindi.  It is a plant from the Apiaceae family which also includes dill, parsley, celery, lovage and fennel. It is very similar in appearance to fennel but its most notable trait is the foul smelling odor, almost like smelly feet. Some cooks are wary of using this herb due to its odor but the odor disappears when cooking and one is left with a pleasant onion-garlic like flavor. Some countries even refer to asafetida as “Devil’s Dung” due to this foul odor. Asafetida is gum made from the dried sap of the stem and roots of a plant called Ferula assafoetida.

How to dry salvia leaves

Follow this method if you are wondering how to dry salvia leaves fast. All you have to do is to lay them out on some paper and let the paper stay out in the sunshine. When the leaves start to droop, it is an indication of the leaves drying.  Salvia divinorum is a psychoactive plant which has been known to induce dissociative effects. It is a member of the mint family which also includes herbs such as basil and oregano. You can also dry salvia leaves by placing them on a food dehydrator on a medium setting (130-140 °). The leaves will be dried in about one or two hours, depending on the size of the leaves. If you dry the leaves at a lower temperature, they will lose their green color and turn brown.

Benefits of asafetida

There are several health benefits of asafetida powder. Some of these are as follows:-

• Asafetida is used to help with respiratory problems like whooping cough, bronchitis or asthma.
• Asafetida powder is used while frying vegetables. Apart from the aromatic taste this herb provides, it has several remedial properties as well. Vegetables like peas or potatoes are heavy and difficult to digest. Adding some asafetida powder while cooking such vegetables will help one to digest them better.
• It can also be used to treat various stomach problems like stomach spasms and colic.
• Add a pinch of asafetida to a glass a water to relive the problem of bloating.
• Asafetida is also believed to treat impotency. Roasted asafetida is taken along with honey and the extract of a banyan tree for about two months. This should be done on an empty stomach in the morning.
• A pinch of asafetida placed in a dental cavity will provide relief from a toothache.

Asafetida health benefits

Asafetida health benefits are numerous. Here are some more of them:-

• The herbal oil of the asafetida plant can be used to treat high cholesterol.
• Asafetida also helps with the problem of chronic fatigue.
• Asafetida is also helpful in treating many female fertility related problems. These include leucorrhoea as well as painful menstruation. It also helps to reduce the risk of sterility and premature labor.
• It is also an essential ingredient in the food of lactating mothers as it helps them to remain healthy.
• The pungent smell of this natural herb helps with the treatment of insect bites as well.

Health benefits of asafetida

The various health benefits of asafetida coupled with the medicinal value this herb carries, makes it an important part of one’s diet as it helps to maintain the overall health of a person.  Many herbalists consider it an effective remedy for the treatment of different kinds of intestinal parasites. The herbal oil of asafetida can also help with the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome. It brings relief from the accumulation of intestinal gases and so it reduces the irritation felt by patients suffering from this syndrome. Asafetida is sometimes recommended for women who have just given birth as it helps to restore proper bowel movement.
 
Is asafetida good for health?

Is asafetida good for health? Yes, studies have shown that this natural herb has many healing and remedial properties (as mentioned earlier). Research on asafetida shows that it is a good anti inflammatory agent as well as a good anti oxidant agent. Perhaps the most important role asafetida plays is in the digestion of food. It is also used in the treatment of nervous disorders, even for children. Herbal remedies made from asafetida have also benefitted people suffering from mood swings and long and short term depression.

Benefit of asafetida

Reducing one’s blood pressure is among the many benefits of asafetida. Asafetida thins the blood which leads to reduced blood pressure. Asafetida can also be used as a sedative.