Page 139 - EBOOK_Jamu: The Ancient Indonesian Art of Herbal Healing

the 19th and 20th centuries owe their existence to the humble gendong who laid

the foundations of service, trust and reliability, which grew with their makers.
These were the people who turned one-woman businesses into cottage
industries, some of which have emerged as giants of Indonesia’s modern jamu
industry.

MUNTILAN’S CHINESE JAMU SELLER

Strangely enough, many Indonesian Chinese are experts on jamu. Chinese have lived in Indonesia for
several generations, and some of the earliest Chinese traders who came to Java stayed and married
local girls. Generally Chinese Indonesians such as Ibu Kwik Siok Ming’s family are totally accepted
by villagers who do not make any distinction. Seventy-four-year-old Ibu Ming runs a busy store in
Muntilan, a small town close to Yogyakarta. She has run the shop since 1950, assisted for the past 20
years by her daughter-in-law, a local Muntilan girl.
Ibu Ming says that she never needs to go to the doctor because she takes Jamu Cabe Puyang
every day. She believes good health is a matter of mental discipline. “If you don’t think about the evil
of your fellow man,” she says wisely. “You have peace of mind and that’s important for good health.”
Wrapping medicine is an art all its own here. The jamu is prepared in battered, old, tin mugs.
Water and herbs are mixed together and sieved. More herbs are added before a second sieving takes
place, then the sediment is squeezed and washed out of the mug into the sieve. The end product is
transferred to a small plastic bag which is carefully knotted. This plastic bag is packed into a banana
leaf and finally the whole thing is wrapped in a sheet of scrap pad and secured with a rubber band.
Only then does money change hands—and the customer leave with a purchase.
“There is no fixed price here, anyone who comes will be helped because many of our
customers are poor. I never mention price.” Ibu Ming learnt how to make ‘instant’ Javanese jamu
from her mother and grandmother. She buys other jamu in packets and makes it up adding her own
spices where necessary. Even the camphor-based compress is bought in packs but prepared in the
shop.
“My ingredients and jamu come from everywhere,” explains Ibu Ming. “We have many herbs
from India such as Artemisia absinthiumor wormwood flower buds, but I can also buy these from
Solo. Masoyi (Cryptocarya massoy) is also Indian and is used to make curry gravy and in Cabe
Lempuyang. The Indian fruit, jenitri (Elæocarpus ganitrus), tightens the vagina. Legi (Glycyrrhiza
glabra) is Chinese and very sweet.”