Thread by @reshii

A thread for everyone who is fulminating about why India is not 'growing' asafoetida/hing

Hing is a wild plant. It has never been cultivated. It grows in uninhabited hilly regions of Afghanistan and Iran. Neither country uses it much. It is ALL consumed in India, except a tiny part that Germans use as Insecticide for fields! Beat that!

Hing is a resin. Without 'stabilizing', it is as potent as, say, an insecticide, and will make you dizzy. It HAS to be stabilized, naturally, with an edible substance. In North India this is wheat flour. In South India, rice flour is used.

Here comes the vital 'secret'. The less flour used, the more superior or stronger, the hing. The more rice/wheat flour, the less the % of hing. It is my FAVOURITE spice but even I can't remain in a hing godown in Old Delhi because of the smell/fumes.

To give you an idea of the quantum of total volume of hing in the market, there are 1500 zeera wholesalers in Delhi but 22 wholesale dealers of hing. Wholesale dealers stabilize it: hardly any processing is done in Af/Iran. Both countries have different flavour profiles, btw!

Until 40 years back, the trade was by individuals: an Afghan 'kabuliwala' would come on a jaunt to India with turquoise, hing, lace etc and sell it to various small-time dealers. Tibetan ladies in hill stations would famously sell hing, sewing needles and assorted knick-knacks.

Hathras in UP has become a centre of processing hing. It is usually poor quality because too much flour. In North India, hing cannot be used in Navratra fasts or by celiacs because of flour. You CANNOT purchase pure hing in the market. Maybe Govt regulations (too potent)

All stories about a lone tree in some random colony where hing used to be extracted are not true. Hing does NOT come from a tree. I would love to see it being grown in HP/Kashmir, but I am not betting on it. Man can but try, but Nature holds the trump card. THE END