[Sca-cooks] Apicius question(s)

[Sharon Palmer]

>
>	Laser, laserpitium, silphium- Flowers and Rosenbaum suggest 
>replacing this herb with asafoetida. 
>www.housedragonor.org/A&S/herbs-gwen.html  oh! reading further on 
>that page, one finds Laser is still used today in India and can be 
>found in many of the larger import markets. It is commonly known as 
>heeng.  I have no idea about the accuracy of that second statement. 
>See the Wiki articles about both Silphium and Asafoetida, very 
>interesting.  Apparently cooked asafoetida is leek-like, and "giant 
>fennel" is part of the same Genus.
>

Hing or Heeng is another word for Asafetida.  Silphium was similar to 
asafotida, which was considered an inferior substitute.

http://www.uni-graz.at/~katzer/engl/Feru_ass.html
http://www.uni-graz.at/~katzer/engl/Silphion.html

Ranvaig