Jamu, Folk Medicine From The Kitchen; A remedy for everything

Jamu  is the term used for traditional herbal remedy in Indonesia, which prescriptions are handed down between the Jamu maker’s generations. It is made from natural ingredients, Healing herbs, roots, flowers, seeds, bark, etc.

It is believed in Indonesia that herbal medicine originated in the palaces of Solo and Yogyakarta in Central Java. Jamu from the areas around a palace were and still are considered the best recipes in terms of efficiency:

• Jamu is for all ages.
• Genuine Jamu is made of herbs, spices, barks, leaves, roots, stems, flowers, seeds, minerals and fruits.
• Jamu helps to strengthen the body’s vitality.
• Jamu is a belief in the benefits of plants.
• Tumeric is found in practically every Jamu.
• Various sorts of gingers are used to create different types of Jamu and it is undeniably and indisputably, one of the most important ingredients used in Jamu.

The origin of jamu is obscure. No one really knows its source. However, popular stories link the first jamu drink with seventeenth century Mataram Empire, where the preparation of jamu herbal cosmetics was undertaken by the ladies of the palace who were rather preoccupied with keeping themselves young and beautiful for their husbands.

The secret of preparation has been passed on from generation to generation by word of mouth. Along the way, several new recipes have been added and old ones revised. The virtues of jamu were later introduced to the “common people” by native healers known as ‘dukuns’, and today an estimated eighty percent of the Indonesian population have tried jamu at some stage of their lives. Jamu is so popular and common that Indonesians drink it like westerners drink milk.

Jamu is essential to the Indonesian women, who believes that beauty is not only skin deep, but is connected to internal well being. Hence, jamu is drunk to preserve health, and herbal cosmetics are applied externally. The demand for jamu has grown so large, that these days are the factories producing it on a large scale.

Some Jamu taste sweet, sour, hot, or bitter. So, if you want to try Jamu, you had better start with the easiest ones, such as:

• Beras Kencur. Made from rice, sand gingers and brown sugar, to ease cramps, fatigue, and cough. Since it tastes sweet, many Indonesian mothers even start to give their children Beras Kencur from early ages to raise their children’s appetite.  
• Gula Asem. A fresh mixing of brown sugar and tamarind’s sweet and sour taste, which is rich in vitamin C.
• Temulawak. It was made from curcuma root, to cure liver disease with a quite friendly taste.
• Kunyit Asam. Made from tamarind and turmeric, which claimed good for skin care and cancer sore

 
If you go to Yogyakarta you can found Javanese ladies with heavy baskets full of bottles strapped to their backs. They sell Jamu; a pale yellow to dark brown liquid and a traditional cure-all for anything from the common cold to rheumatism. The ladies dispense their ‘jamu’ or herbal medicine with gusto. A deft crack of an egg with one hand against the rim of a glass half filled with the bitter medicine, a quick stir and viola! A freshly prepared remedy no matter what you’ve got.

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