Traditional Indonesian rempah-rempah as a modern functional food and herbal medicine

Rempah-rempah are endemic spices from Nusantara (Southeast Asia archipelago) that have been used traditionally as food flavoring for centuries. Traditionally, rempah-rempah has been processed in a variety of ways including boiled, fried, distilled, fermented, extracted, and crushed and mixed fresh with other foods. Foods flavored with rempah-rempah are served daily as beverages, hot drinks, snacks, and crackers. Nowadays, the consumption of synthetic ingredients was increased globally, but rempah-rempah was rarely used in food. In traditional medicine, various parts of rempah-rempah have been used in many countries for the treatment of a number of diseases. Unfortunately, information concerning the human health benefits of rempah-rempah is still limited. Therefore, a detailed ethnomedical, phytochemical review of the correlated chemical compounds of rempah-rempah was performed. This review summarizes the most recent research regarding the phytopharmaceutical actions of rempah-rempah like immunomodulatory, antioxidant, analgesic, digestive, carminative, and antibacterial effects, as well as other physiological effects. Modern pharmacological studies and clinical studies performed note that rempah-rempah ameliorates potential disease threats. Such rempah-rempah include ginger (Zingiber officinale), Katuk (Sauropus androgynus (L.) Merr), andaliman (Zanthoxylum acanthopodicum), antarasa (Litsea cubeba), kecombang (Nicolai speciosa Horan), tapak liman (Elephantropus scaber L.), kedondong laut (Polyscias obtusa), mengkudu (Morinda citrifolia), kapulaga (Amomum cardamomum), lemongrass (Cymbopogon fleuopsus), sirsak (Anona muricata), and kunyit (Curcuma sp.). Due to its nutritional and medicinal values, rempah-rempah can be categorized as a functional food with natural ingredient that provide health benefit for some diseases. The resolution of various issues, such as packaging, canning, preserving, and marketing, is needed for future improvement of rempah-rempah as a traditional Indonesian flavor and functional food.