Page 98 - EBOOK_Jamu: The Ancient Indonesian Art of Herbal Healing

Juice from the stem of pisang kepok or pisang klutuk is used to treat snake

bites, kidney stones and bleeding following delivery. Once upon a time fruit
from the pisang klutuk was burnt in kitchen ash and pressed to obtain the juice,
which was given to dysentery patients. To avoid such a tedious process, the
alternative was to add a pinch of saffron and some opium to the astringent juice
and swallow it down. By contrast, pisang swanggi is an antidote for poison,
while on the islands of Ambon and Ceram, cooked pisang tunjuk is a diuretic.
Uncooked tunjuk results in unbearable itching and red urine.
The National Heart Institute of America found bananas contained serotonin,
which activates the smooth muscle of the intestine and is also useful for
depression and migraine. Another of its substances, norepinephrine, helps in
certain cases of heart collapse. But beware the not-so-desirable side effects of

bananas other than pisang mas, golden bananas. They have the property to
increase wetness in the vagina, which, according to most Indonesian herbalists,
is not an attribute the average Indonesian husband is happy about.

Other Common Curative Ingredients
There is a plethora of other fruits and vegetables that are almost equally
important. Indonesians have taken advantage of their resources and developed an
impressive number of medicines—both preventative and curative —from their
store cupboard.
One example, the giant white radish (raphanus sativus; lobak) takes care of
fluid retention. Another, the sour, fragrant juice of yellow thin-skinned lime
(citrus aurantifolia; jeruk nipis) appears in numerous recipes from sauces and

marinades to fish and meat dishes. It has the ability to detoxify poisons in the
body and is added to many jamu, especially those prescribed for diarrhoea and
sore throats. Jeruk nipis even finds its way into compresses. Isaac Henry Burkill
notes no less than 29 remedies are known to contain jeruk nipis, partly for its
therapeutic value and partly because it acts as a carrier, but particularly because
it puts paid to evil spirits.