Last updated on April 19, 2022
The term jamu covers a wide range of traditional herbal tonics and medicines. There are jamu medicines for almost every imaginable complaint: for colds and coughs, aches and pains, hypertension, fever, menstrual problems and diarrhoea.
Jamu can help you lose weight, or put on weight. There is deodorant jamu, jamu for pregnant women, jamu to help digestion, jamu that stops flatulence dead in its tracks, and jamu that can cure sexual problems. There are jamu that helps reduce fever (demam), including the fever that accompanies an attack of malaria or that helps cure mouth ulcers (sariawan).
Many women, especially Javanese women, drink jamu regularly to help them maintain a clear, healthy, youthful complexion. In former times the making of jamu was an admired accomplishment, especially in a woman.
Today, particularly in Java, you can still see women selling jamu tonic drinks door-to-door or in markets. But more and more people are now buying their jamu in mass-produced packets or capsules.
On the back of jamu packets you will find information on the contents of the packet, on the symptoms or ailments that the jamu can treat, and instructions on how to take the jamu.