Stay healthy with traditional 'jahe pletok'

Stay healthy with traditional 'jahe pletok'

Singgir Kartana, Contributor, Magelang, Central Java

In the competitive food and beverage business there is a well-
known adage that the ingredients might be similar but the taste
should be different, depending on how you brew and serve them.

The same saying goes for 40-year-old Wahyudi, a jahe pletok or
instant ginger drink vendor from Magelang regency, Central Java.

The beverage's unique name was coined by Wahyudi himself to
distinguish his product from others and to bring good luck to his
business.

Jahe means ginger, but pletok is hardly found in any
Indonesian dictionary. Javanese people are familiar with the word
as it is often associated with a loud popping sound.

"The brand, Jahe Pletok, arouses people's curiosity so that
they wish to try the product," said Yudi, as he is fondly called.

Though similar ginger powders with the same ingredients and
positive health effect are available, people still prefer to buy
Yudi's.

The main ingredients for the beverage are ginger, sugar, brown
sugar, kayu secang or sappanwood (Caesalpinia sappan) and
Indonesian cinnamon (Cinnamomum burmannii). To serve it, all the
ingredients are mixed together with hot or cold water and,
depending on one's taste, ice cubes can be added to the beverage.

The drink is believed to be good for one's health. Sappanwood,
for example, contains substances like saffron and tannin and
phenil prophil acetat, which are believed to help relieve
breathing difficulties, increase appetite, help the digestion
process and prevent flatulence.

The sweet, exotic aroma of cinnamon brings a novel sensation
to the drinker and is also believed to prevent someone from
catching a cold.

However, Bambang Sulistiyo, a traditional medicine expert,
said that such a drink should be categorized as a herbal drink or
tonic, not a drug.

"The function is to improve stamina -- to prevent a disease
but not cure it," he said.

Yudi started his business in 1995, and was inspired by bir
pletok, a local beverage that also used ginger in its
ingredients, after a visit to Jakarta.

Upon his return to his hometown in Magelang, he tried to
concoct his own beverage using ginger and produced jahe pletok,
which is totally different in its ingredients and production
method to Jakarta's bir pletok. In 1996, the Ministry of Health
recognized his product and licensed it.

In the beginning, Wahyudi sold his jahe pletok from door to
door in Magelang and its environs.

As his product became more popular, Yudi did not have to
travel again. For two years now, customers have gone to his
residence in Candirejo village, Magelang, to buy the beverage,
either for personal consumption or for resale.

Jahe pletok is packaged in a small box containing 250 grams of
powder, costing Rp 5,000 (60 US cents).

Yudi can sell about 1,000 boxes per month. The beverage is now
available in many parts of Java, such as Semarang, Yogyakarta
(Central Java), Bandung (West Java) and Surabaya (East Java).

He said that the manufacture of jahe pletok was not as
complicated as one might think. First, pieces of ginger are
washed clean and grated. Some water is poured into the mix and
then one must wait until the residue of the ginger develops. It
is then strained to obtain the essence .

The essence is then mixed with sugar, brown sugar and certain
spices, and boiled.

Yudi said that one must keep stirring the mixture for up to an
hour to prevent it from becoming lumpy.

A similar method is used when he makes other traditional
tonics such as kunir asem, kunir putih, temulawak and gula asem.

The whole process is handled by Wahyudi himself. Sometimes,
his mother, Ibu Parinten, lends a hand.

In order to maintain the special flavor, Yudi carefully
measures the ingredients. The ratio of ginger and sugar is 1:3,
meaning that for one kilogram (kg) of ginger, he needs two kg of
sugar and one kg of brown sugar. In addition, he needs an ounce
of a mixture of sappanwood and cinnamon.

Since Candirejo people plant spices in their own gardens, Yudi
often asks his neighbors for some, like ginger, and grows others
in his own backyard.

"We have abundant materials here," he remarked.