Page 74 - EBOOK_Jamu: The Ancient Indonesian Art of Herbal Healing

The credibility of kencur is reinforced by its regular medicinal application
in other cultures. For centuries, the Chinese used kencur for stomach upsets and
duodenal ulcers, and it featured prominently in ancient Egyptian medicine. In the
Philippines, it is used for colds and headaches. Thais use kencur in the kitchen
and also for headaches, while sailors who transported
kencur to Europe for culinary purposes, as medicine or catarrh-relieving snuff,
quickly discovered it made an excellent antidote to sea sickness.
In recent experiments on breathing difficulties, menthol, camphor and
kencur were mixed, one at a time, with oil and balsam. The kencur mix turned

out to be the most successful. When small quantities were used, an improvement
was seen in 20 minutes, but when the kencur content was increased to 30 per
cent, the same level of improvement was obvious within five minutes.
Kencur is also an ingredient in health and beauty preparations formulated to
resolve hormonal problems. If the body is unbalanced or needs a general tonic,
the answer might lie in Jamu Awet Ayu, a rejuvenating jamu. Most of these
beauty formulæ read like a ginger family reunion and nearly always include the
kencur rhizome.

Kencur is officially considered the seventh most popular jamu ingredient.
Consequently, scientists are searching for the best ways to cultivate it. They
know the rhizome has a preference for loose, crumbly, sandy soil, a particular
penchant for peaty, woody, mossy places and will flourish up to 900 metres
(2,700 feet). Active projects centre on how to protect it from insects and disease,
as well as choosing the right nutrients, fertilisers and conditions to produce a
perfect rhizome. Scientists are currently evaluating kencur as an insecticide and
preliminary reports indicate it could help eradicate Asia’s dangerous Aedes
mosquito larvae responsible for dengue fever.