Making Jamu is Simple and Easy

Starting to make jamu can be overwhelming when we attempt to work it out on our own and have ready access to hundreds of recipes from the internet.

I learned to make jamu growing up as my late mother was a practitioner of traditional healing.

Often, she would invite me to make jamu with her, particularly beras kencur, which is made from rice (beras) and aromatic ginger/resurrection lily (Kaempferia galanga, cekur/kencur).

She started making for me beras kencur when I was about 16 and starting to be active in rugby.

Later on, I learned that she was following the ancient tradition of introducing age-appropriate jamu.

Beras kencur is part of the eight (8) primary jamu concoctions promoted during the reign of Sultan Agung of Central Java in the 17th century. Today, five (5) of them are listed as part of the Jamu Wellness Culture inscribed on UNESCO’s Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity (ICHH).

As I began my journey to seriously learn to make jamu when my mother passed on in 2014, I found that starting with these eight primary concoctions has helped me grow my expertise.

The first concoction to make is kunyit asam, with turmeric (kunyit) and tamarind (asam) as the primary ingredients.

The ingredients you need are:

• 300 g of turmeric, preferably ibu kunyit or the main rhizome. (Cut and cleaned with skin removed)
• 200 g of tamaraind
• 200 g of palm sugar (more or less depending on preferred sweetness)
• Black pepper, preferably Javanese long pepper (cabe Jawa, Piper retrofractum)
• 2 l of water

The method will be as follows:

1. Boil the 2 litres of water in a pot.
2. When the water begins to boil, lower the heat to let it simmer. Put in all the ingredients.
3. Simmer for 20 minutes. After simmering for 15 minutes, add 1-2 Javanese long pepper.
4. Turn off the heat after simmering for 20 minutes.
5. Let the concoction cool for about 10 minutes. Then, pour the kunyit asam concoction into a glass bottle. Let it cool down before refrigerating.
6. You should get at least 1.5 litres of kunyit asam.

Get used to the sensations and benefits of consuming this basic primary concoctions before adding other ingredients like ginger or lemongrass.

When you are comfortable with kunyit asam, you can proceed on to learn the next concoction which should be beras kencur.