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Herbs & Cultures

Jamu in Indonesia →

Kunyit asam

Turmeric and tamarind: the best-known jamu, sold door to door in Java every day.

Traditional use

Time
30 minutes
Makes
About 1 litre
Image of Kunyit asam
Fhikri Latifi · CC BY 4.0

Jamu gendong, women who walk through the neighbourhood with a basket of bottles on their back, have sold herbal drinks in Indonesia for centuries. Kunyit asam (turmeric-sour) is the most popular of them: fresh, sour and sweet. Women often drink it around menstruation, and to refresh in hot weather.

Ingredients

  • 100 g fresh turmeric (or 2 tbsp ground)
  • 40 g tamarind pulp
  • 80–100 g palm sugar (gula jawa)
  • 1 litre water
  • A pinch of salt

Step by step

  1. Wash and grate the turmeric, or purée it with a little water.
  2. Bring the water to the boil with the turmeric, tamarind and palm sugar.
  3. Simmer gently for 15 minutes and add the salt.
  4. Strain through a fine sieve or cloth, leave to cool and drink lukewarm or cold.

Tips

  • Wear gloves when grating fresh turmeric.

Registry

Herbs in this recipe

Read more about effects and safety on each herb’s page.

  • Caution

    Asia · Herb · № 5

    Turmeric

    Curcuma longa

    A traditional culinary spice containing curcumin; laboratory findings do not establish a cure for disease.

    Ayurveda+5Folklore
  • Caution

    Africa · Food · № 560

    Tamarind

    Tamarindus indica

    Traditionally attributed effects: ripe fruit sour, cooling, carminative, laxative, antiscorbutic, promotes bile; for inflamed swellings, bilious vomiting, conjunctivitis (flowers), bleeding haemorrhoids, throat complaints, ulcers, paralysis (bark), gonorrhoea (ash).

    Local African healing traditions+3

Cultures and traditions

Where the herbs come from

The herbs in this recipe also appear in these traditions.