Page 51 - EBOOK_Jamu: The Ancient Indonesian Art of Herbal Healing

written, and particularly so since the drastic devaluation of the currency in

1997/98. However, most Indonesians are familiar with the vagaries of the
terminology and have learned through experience.
While the simplicity of jamu-making is often stressed—after all, what is
easier than mixing up an effective cure from ingredients growing in the garden—
it is, in reality, complex and has many pitfalls. Recipes and ingredients appear
deceptively easy to the newcomer, keen to experiment. First-timers would be
advised to enlist the aid of either a jamu seller or a herbalist, or simply take the
remedies rather than try to make them.

For instance, sugar is an important base ingredient in many healing recipes.
Indonesian jamu is made from three types of sugar. gula batu (rock sugar;
Saccharum officinarum) is refined white sugar. gula Jawa or gula merah
(coconut sugar; cocos nucifera) is made from the sap of young coconut trees and
cooked at high temperatures to produce its brown colour. The syrup is left to
cool and harden in empty coconut shells and assumes the discus-like shape. The
third variety, gula Aren (palm sugar), is the queen of sugars, made from the pure
sap of a young Aren tree (Arenga pinnata). Its colour changes from white to
brown during cooking and the solid sugar is shaped into small cylinders before it

reaches shops and market stalls. This sugar is the most expensive of the three,
but many women refuse to settle for anything less, for they say the cheaper types
of sugar affect the taste and quality of their jamu. This criticism is sometimes
levelled at jamu gendong (herbal tonic street sellers) who often substitute a
factory-made synthetic similar to saccharin, which is said to cause coughs.