The Herbal Remedy From My Wife's Village

I took my kids and wife back to the village where my wife grew as a child in North Bali. My kids enjoyed being in the village so much because they could played their cousins. As for me, I like being in the village because I could feel relax. It seems the time is slowed down in the village.

There are a few things that my wife's family does that I do not usually do. For example, using herbal remedies for maintaining health is something quite common for them.

When we were there, my wife and my father in law went to the farm near the house. They brought a little hoe to harvest gamongan roots (Zingiber zerumbet). There were few spots on the farm where I could see the roots coming out from the dry ground. The dug in one spot to get the roots out of the ground.

The gamongan roots on the ground.

Digging the gamongan roots.

I was holding a bunch of gamongan roots.

My wife's parents rely a lot on nature rather than manufactured medicine. Only when the herbal remedy fails, they will go to the doctor.

The good thing I observed during these years is that they don't wait until they become sick to find the remedy. THey rather prevent the sickness by consuming herbal remedy to maintain their health. The gamongan root which they consumed as a herbal drink is a good example of this.

My wife cleaned the gamongan roots.

She added a little bit of rice.

The rice and the gamongan roots were placed in the mortar and ground them.

I was not actually used to drink herbal drinks like this. When I was introduced for the first time to this gamongan herbal drink, I thought this was very bitter. Well, it's still bitter until now! I thought it would taste like ginger or turmeric.

"It's good for your body immune system." my wife said when she saw my expression after sipping the gamongan drink for the first time. Well, if it is good to your health, I don't mind.

I did my little research online to find more about this medicinal plant. I found out that it's also good for improving body metabolism, helping to cure diarrhea, to keep your skin healthy, and even prevent cancer.

The gamongan and the rice had been ground and mixed.

We added some water to the gamongan paste.

Then we pour the water that already been mixed with the gamongan through a sieve.

Finally, it's ready to drink.

That's how I learned about the gamongan roots drink. There were some more herbal remedies that I learned from my wife's parents which I will probably share later. Thanks for reading.