Asafetida/asafoetida anyone?

[JAS_OH1]

If BO always smelled like chicken soup - the deodorant market would take a nose-dive!!

You can find asafetida online (sometimes sold as hing). You can also get it there in small quantities. If you have an Indian market you can definitely find it there, with the potential of also finding it in middle eastern markets on occasion.

It's flavor is onion-like but with a slightly different twist. I know some people with allium allergies (anything onion/garlic/green onion/leek) - they don't live close enough to me that I'd be cooking for them, but it could always be an option to toss a little in to the dish.

Yeah, no Indian or middle eastern markets near me. Surprised they have any up in them there mountains where you live!

 

[Mountain Cat]

Yeah, no Indian or middle eastern markets near me. Surprised they have any up in them there mountains where you live!

I pick the more obscure Indian seasonings up when I go back down to my previous stomping grounds in the Danbury area of Connecticut. There's a great Indian market there!

I'll be back down in April, in two or three weeks. (I combine such trips with getting together for lunch with a friend or two.)

EDIT: Oh, and yes, I got the asafetida online.... I haven't gotten back down to CT more than a couple of times since COVID started.

 

[Morning Glory]

I think it smells lovely, but I grew up with the smell of trassi (fermented shrimp paste) which is essential in Indonesian cooking. I am also no stranger to Durian, which I also like.
Shrimp paste - Wikipedia

It's all aquired taste, and depends largely on cultural heritage. I personally loathe the smell of fermented or pickled fish, while most Dutch people love it.

I also think it asafetida smells lovely as well as fermented fish and fermented fish paste. Believe me, this is not cultural heritage in my case. I was brought up on the blandest of diets.