Little is known about asafetida, outside of Indian cooking. Ammini Ramachandran's beautifully written article & recipe for Sweet & Spicy Pineapple Salsa is a wonderful introduction to this mysterious spice.

Asafetida: The Story of an Ancient Spice

Thank you for the information. It amazes me how humans learned to eat or invent some of the most off-putting ingredients! The description of asafetida in the article sounds horrid, and yet so many cultures add it to their dishes.

I use it daily in my cooking, most Indian food contains it ;-)