Indonesia has a lot of healthy herbs and spices that are now being used by many peole and even more especially because of the pandemic.
Since a long time ago, many countries have come to Indonesia to buy herbs and spices because Indonesia’s herbs and spices are known for their richness. Indonesia has such rich and high-quality herbs and spices such as cloves, nutmeg, peppers, cinnamon, ginger, etc. That is why foods in Indonesia are flavourful. The high-quality of the spices means there is also a price, herbs and spices were very expensive back then. The European traders were obsessed, thus it became many food’s ingredients around the world. Indonesia’s richness can be proven by Maluku as the biggest producer of cloves and nutmeg specifically from Banda Island as the best nutmeg producer in the world. Indonesia and India are two countries with the most extensive paper plantations in the world, Indonesia has around 116,000 hectares of pepper plantation. Besides, herbs and spices are used for many things. Spices are commonly used for cooking, cure sickness, to warm our bodies. Human health with herbs and spices is a perfect combination, there are plenty of benefits of herbs for the body. For example, consuming one garlic clove per day lower the risk of cholesterol, heart disease. Chilli peppers keep the blood vessels healthy, ginger helps the digestive system also warm the body and has calming effect. Cinnamon lowers blood sugar levels and lessens the possibility of getting diabetes. Barus, North Sumatra has 300 herbs that can heal around 116,000 hectares of pepper plantation. Besides, herbs and spices can be used for many things. Spices are commonly used for cooking, cure sickness, and, warm the body. For example, consuming one garlic clove per day can lower the risk of cholesterol and heart disease. Chilli peppers keep the blood vessels healthy, ginger helps the digestive system and can warm the body and has a calm effect. Cinnamon lowers blood sugar levels and lessens the possibility of getting diabetes. Barus, North Sumatra has 300 herbs that can heal around 118 types of physical illnesses. The history of Indonesia’s herbs and spices led Indonesia to become the world’s herbs and spices commodity. Europeans wanted herbs and spices directly from the source. Therefore, in 1512, the Portuguese went to Nusantara, specifically to Ternate Island. At that time, Ternate and Tidore were in a bad place thus the Portuguese supported Ternate and expected them to give back their herbs and spices. In 1512, Spain came and supported Tidore against the Portuguese. That is how Spain got the spices. Eventually, there was a war between the Portuguese and Spain, the Portuguese with Ternate, resulting Portuguese’s loss and then they left Nusantara. The Dutch and VOC came to Nusantara, Batavia (now Jakarta) and made Banda Island the trading centre of VOC for nutmeg spices. The power of herbs and spices shows when the British came to Nusantara, wanting to take the spices but the Netherlands did not let that happen, causing the British and the Dutch to fight each other. The Netherlands even destroyed all the nutmeg trees so that the British could not have it. The war ended in 1667 by signing The Treaty of Breda. The British smuggled out the nutmeg seeds from Banda Island and then planted it on their other colonies in Ceylon (Sri Lanka), Singapore, and Grenada. This ended the Dutch monopoly of nutmeg. There is also a route called the spice route, traders from around the world use this route to trade herbs and spices. Not only herbs and spices, a lot of cultural exchange also happened in spice routes such as religion, food, and language. This is how herbs and spices in Nusantara became the world’s herbs and spices commodity. People are already aware of Indonesia’s herbs and spices richness and their benefits for human health, which made Nusantara a superior commodity in the past, later become popular these days because of the pandemic. They are usually for cooking ingredients for the daily life, but most people now believed in the impact of herbs and spices for our health.
Coronavirus came to Indonesia in early March announced by the President of Indonesia, Joko Widodo. When this happened, a lot of people were panicking because coronavirus affects many aspects on people’s life. One of them being their lifestyle, people drastically shift their lifestyle from their usual into a healthy lifestyle to prevent the virus. Healthy lifestyle needed especially because of the virus. There are plenty of things that became popular in Indonesia because of the pandemic strikes, one of the examples is the increased usage of herbs and spices because herbs and spices are known as immunity boosters. Besides, it can be found anywhere in the market, some sellers sell them at much cheaper prices and that is probably one of the reasons why people consume herbs and spices in this situation since the economy is in decline. You can even plant your herbs and spices at your house, might as well make them your new hobby during the lockdown. Researchers from Professor Nidom Foundation (PNF) in Pasuruan invented a coronavirus preventer using herbal medicine as the basic ingredients (Hartini, 2020). In 2019, export volume in the agricultural sector skyrocketed to 4,18 million tons, not to mention the volume after the new normal phase. Kinds of herbs and spices that are now commonly used for healthy living are ginger, turmeric, curcuma, lemongrass, cinnamon, orange peel, etc. Ginger or red ginger to be more precise has anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties, meanwhile, coronavirus causes inflammation symptoms in the lungs. This means ginger’s anti-inflammatory effect could work for the virus. As additional information, ginger can also warm your body. In turmeric, there is an antibacterial and anti-virus substance called Lipopolysaccharide. Curcuma can improve our immune system, people usually blend Curcuma, turmeric, and ginger. Other than an immunity booster, lemongrass is also used for detoxification to prevent increasing cholesterol. In the other hand, garlic can be useful to fight viruses such as influenza A, B, HIV, pneunomia, and rhinovirus. Something that can be found easily but is very useful for the body is orange peel, orang peel has 3 times more vitamin C than the actual fruit. Polyphenol antioxidants that are in the orange peel are also important for immune system. Either boil it with water or in a powder form then brew it like a coffee. Another alternative is to drink jamu, jamu is a herbal medicine in a liquid form that is made from various natural ingredients. Few people might not like jamu because some jamu has a bitter taste, despite the bitter taste, jamu has a lot of benefits. Some jamu that contain ginger or turmeric that can help to boost the immune system are Jamu Presiden (contains ginger water, turmeric, lemongrass, palm sugar, curcuma).
The numerous of high-quality herbs and spices in Indonesia supports people’s moves to start a healthy lifestyle. A healthy lifestyle does not have to be expensive, ecause Indonesia has the best source of traditional herbs and spices that is way cheaper than modern treatment. It is rare for young people these days to consume traditional herbal medicine, so it would be a good example for other people too if you start to consume traditional herbal medicine. It will also help the economy of herbs and spices farmers around Indonesia if more people consume it. Other than that, there are still a lot of herbs and spices in Indonesia that have not been developed by scientists which may be useful for human health. This pandemic is a moment for our country to think more creatively so that people can be more independent in the future.
Author: Ilen Atine Gusti
References
- Wongso, William W. (2018). Cita Rasa Indonesia: Ekspresi Kuliner William Wongso”. BAB Publishing Indonesia.
- Indonesiana Magazine Volume 9. (2020). Pandemic, Indonesian Spice’s Momentous Awakening”.
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