Old Wives Tales

So as you know (because I am good at complaining), I was sick last week. It’s mostly gone now, but one time in college, I got really sick and had a hacking cough for 5 months and so now pretty much any time I get sick, I have a residual hacking cough for anywhere from a few weeks to a few months. The flu or whatever it was that seems to be going around school only lasted for 3 days, but now I’ve got the cough. A guy in church happened to overhear me coughing and we struck up a conversation Sunday after church. He mentioned an Indonesian herbal remedy that involves a type of seed that is hard as a rock being soaked in hot water until it turns into jelly. Then you just drink the water and it is guaranteed to make any cough disappear within 3 days. He said he’d buy me some seeds at the market this week.

The goods arrived tonight. I have 8 of those seeds, which are called biji bunga tempayang. Not sure what that translates to. It’s the seed of some flower though. Pak Fil also sent a lot of selasih, which, when translated, appears to be basil seed. I asked what that is for, and Aswan told me it reduces your “panas dalam”. Inner heat? Best guess is that it’s for fever. Aswan explained that if your inner heat is too hot, it’s hard to get better. Sickness just festers. So you have to treat your inner heat in order to treat any other ailment.

Before I get to the pictures – and trust me, this foray into the world of Indonesian wives tales was thoroughly documented – let me just preface this by saying that I am normally a moderately daring person. If I’m reasonably sure it won’t kill me, I’ll try anything once. Brains, guts, chicken feet, etc. But it really sealed the deal when a) Pak Fil said he was buying, b) Pak Fil claimed that this stuff has no flavor, c) I realized how often I get sick here, so what can it hurt to try? d) rock sugar was included in the deal to sweeten the supposedly flavorless water, and e) the rock/seed thing turns to jelly! How could that not intrigue me??

Here you go:

(The something-flower seed and the basil seeds)

(Here they are in their bagged form)

(Hot water and rock sugar added. By the way, I was thrilled to find that the rock seeds float, thus enabling me to more efficiently photo-document this adventure.)

(Within seconds, the rock seed started expanding. It was like those capsule things you throw in hot water and watch them grow into sponges shaped like animals. Those are the best.)

(The basil seeds also turn into little jellies that look kind of like frog eyes or something! Who knew?)

(You look like you need a close up of what is going down in this mug)

(I forgot to mention this earlier, but boyfriend is the one who made me this concoction. Because he is the best. According to him, after about 5 minutes, you have to stir it to make it look like tea. Notice the water is brown now, not clear.)

(By this point I COULD.NOT.WAIT to try my drink. Aswan kept telling me to be patient and just keep taking pictures.)

(FINALLY ready to drink!!)

(I got boyfriend to document the first sip for me.)

(Not bad for medicine! Really all I could taste was the sugar, but that just might be because I’m still a little stuffed up.)

(The flower seed turns into this. Appetizing. I chose not to eat mine.)

(EYEBALLS! OK, not really….)

(The seed thing before and after.)

Boyfriend says he’ll make me another mug of it tomorrow. Now to see if it actually works. If so, I am so sold on this remedy. It is cheap and easy and tastes sweet. Also, it looks like I am drinking tiny eyeballs and that is so cool.