Page 72 - EBOOK_Jamu: The Ancient Indonesian Art of Herbal Healing

system with a mild, antiseptic wash. This habit is important in a country where

food is often cooked in the morning, then covered and left out all day in the heat,
a practice that can lead to stomach infections. Indonesians see turmeric primarily
as a disinfectant, but a secondary use is to combat stomach ache and diarrhoea.
Turmeric is found in practically every jamu, since Indonesians rightly
believe that it is anti-inflammatory and a painkiller that both cleanses the blood
and improves circulation. Its other attributes include reducing bleeding, and
healing wounds, itchiness, ulcers and abscesses. Burnt and inhaled, it relieves a
stuffy nose and plays a role in treating asthma, angina, hypertension and fever.
Combined with other ingredients, turmeric is a remedy for ailments as diverse as
sore, cracked skin, post-natal problems, eczema, stomach abscesses, sores and
dysentery.

We learn from the great Dutch botanist Rumphius (who was in fact
German-born Georg Everard Rumpf, 1628-1702) that turmeric had another
function: “...these same flowers are also of use against Fire-Piss or Gonorrhey, in
both Men and Women.” His recommendation? Mix seven unopened flower buds
with young coconut and the problem disappears.

Turmeric is known by 80 different names in Indonesia’s thousands of
villages, which gives some measure of its importance. The plant likes fertile,
well-aerated soil and grows more or less anywhere below 600 metres (1,200
feet), so it is widely available. Its smell is at once fresh and musky, the taste is
pungent with a hint of ginger and a touch of orange. The darker the rhizome, the
better the quality; it also needs to grow for a year before it can be used in