It is said that asafoetida is actually a kind of fungus. There is a saying in Zengguang Xianwen that "gold is not fake, but asafoetida is not real." Some people think that the correct answer should be "Scutellaria baicalensis is not false, asafoetida is not true." Because skullcap and asafoetida are both traditional Chinese medicines, and skullcap is not expensive and available everywhere, so there is no need to pretend to be fake skullcap. And why the asafoetida in it is said to be untrue is because it is too rare and rarely true. So where did asafoetida come from?

Baidu Encyclopedia says that Asafoetida was born in the Gobi Desert and barren mountains, and is distributed in Xinjiang. The resinous part of the plant can be used as medicine. It has a strong and long-lasting garlic-like odor, a pungent taste, and a burning sensation when chewed. Indications: Used for stagnant food, blood stasis, lumps in the abdomen, and abdominal pain due to worm infestation. And "Tang Materia Medica" records: kill all kinds of insects, remove odor, break disease accumulation, release bad odor, eliminate evil spirits and poison.

It can be seen that asafoetida is really a good thing. How can a magical elixir that can eliminate evil spirits and poisonous poisons be readily available? According to folklore, asafoetida is also a valuable traditional Chinese medicine. It is said that it is produced in Xifan and its smell is extremely bad. Produced in graveyards, it is a fungus that grows from the lid of a dead person's coffin. Its roots are found in the mouth of the dead person, and the dead person must have smoked opium during his lifetime. It is also said in tomb robbery novels that the blood Ganoderma lucidum that many tomb robbers seek is actually Asafoetida.

When I was a child, I happened to read a book about the origin of asafoetida. Asafoetida is a fungus. Nail a pregnant woman to the wall, put a handful of rice straw (rice straw) under her feet, and let the pregnant woman die slowly. The fungus that grows on the rice straw from her corpse water is both Asafoetida, and only this kind of Asafoetida can It's true Asafoetida.

Because it is too cruel and rare, many pregnant animals are used to produce asafoetida, so asafoetida is very rare. This is the reason why "gold is not fake, asafoetida is not real" in "Zengguang Xianwen" folktales.