Page 59 - EBOOK_Jamu: The Ancient Indonesian Art of Herbal Healing

Another area for concern is the proliferation of one type of night warung,
small stalls that usually stay open all night in Indonesia. Illegal jamu is big
business. The sellers are well known to locals in Bali or Yogyakarta and are
occasionally found in Jakarta. As their products are illegal, these traders are
expert at uprooting themselves and disappearing at the first sign of police. If
undisturbed, they make an extremely good living and the benefits outweigh the
risks. However, they sell an exceedingly strong jamu that can be highly
dangerous. It is similar to a fermented wine or beer and is famous, according to
Indonesians, for ‘making men strong’. It is one of the few jamu with side effects.
If you notice a group of men reeling and singing around a night stall, chances are
they have been working on their virility because the fermented drink makes

customers exceedingly drunk. Foreigners do not have to worry about stumbling
across these sellers because they would never let a Westerner buy their jamu.
They are equally reluctant to sell to an Indonesian woman who arrives on her
own, but will serve her if she is with her husband.
There are also more or less legitimate sellers who think they can improve
on original recipes. One such vendor in Menteng Dalam, North Jakarta has a
reputation for selling exceedingly good jamu made using an electric blender; he
attracts huge queues of regular customers in the morning rush hour. What is so

unique about this jamu? The seller adds a Bodrex tablet (a trade name for