Page 54 - EBOOK_Jamu: The Ancient Indonesian Art of Herbal Healing

folklore that is respected but rarely explained. For example, why is jamu drunk

standing up straight with one’s big toes crossed? Few people know the answer:
most can only reply that it is tradition. Yet they still do it! One school of thought
insists that jamu must be drunk facing the sun. This accords with the principles
relating to spiritual energy, where the sun is a symbol of light and divine power,
representing the oneness of everything. On a more pragmatic level, the sun
warms the body, automatically relaxing the muscles and enabling the body’s
systems to absorb the herbs more efficiently.
Herbalists warn never to drink jamu with alcohol because the latter
dissolves the jamu, thus cancelling out its benefits. Furthermore, freshly ground
roots and powders may sink to the bottom of a glass and end up being washed
down the sink: the solution is to stir and drink the mixture immediately. To make

jamu more potent, some advise whisking in a fresh chicken or quail egg (but not
duck or turtle eggs). This is a popular addition to many powdered jamu and is
normally mixed into Jamu Cabe Puyang (an abbreviation of cabe jawa, the fruit
of piper retrofractum, a type of pepper, and lempuyang pahit, the rhizome of the
bitter ginger, zingiber amaricans). Jamu Cabe Puyang is often prescribed for
people who are run down.
The right jamu gendong or seller is the best route to successful jamu taking.
It is expected that the jamu gendong will pose a number of questions to ascertain

whether an ailment might be related to other complaints, due to pregnancy,
vaccinations, and so on, and therefore will have a better idea which jamu is most
suitable. A lack of experience can lead to the wrong mixture which, not
surprisingly, will not work.