UNS — The Community Service Team, part of the Research Group in Indigenous Psychology at the Faculty of Psychology, Universitas Sebelas Maret (UNS) Surakarta, organized an event entitled ‘Development of a Traditional Recipe (Indigenous Recipe) for Herbal Cookies in UMMA MSME Surakarta’. This initiative was a collaboration with the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) UMMA, managed by Agus Eka Nurma Yuneta, S.ST., M.Kes.
In this event, the Community Service Team from the Indigenous Psychology Research Group at the Faculty of Psychology, UNS, invited local housewives to practice making herbal cookies. “This activity took place on September 23 2023, at UMMA MSME Balong, Banjarsari, Surakarta. Twenty housewives from this local community participated in the practical session to make herbal cookies. Besides testing the recipe, the event aimed to ignite entrepreneurial interest among the housewives,” Dr. Farida Hidayati, S.Psi., M.Sc., Chair of the Community Service Team at the Indigenous Psychology Research Group, Faculty of Psychology, UNS, explained on Friday (3/11/2023).
The reason behind the UNS Faculty of Psychology Indigenous Psychology Research Group training housewives to make herbal cookies is that the experience of the Covid-19 pandemic has increased awareness of disease prevention and immunity enhancement. One of the practices that gained renewed attention was the consumption of herbal remedies called ‘jamu’. Preserving the tradition of consuming ‘jamu’ is crucial to maintaining this heritage.
However, there is a need to develop alternative products, as the majority of ‘jamu’ products are still limited to liquid or powdered forms for direct consumption. Given the medicinal properties, safety, and economic benefits of ‘jamu’, it is essential to differentiate ‘jamu’ products, such as food or cookies. The choice to process ‘jamu’ into cookies was made because cookies have a low moisture content, making them easy to store and preserve.
“Moreover, cookies are liked by people of all ages and backgrounds,” she added.
During the implementation, this Community Service Team received assistance from UNS Psychology students and was guided by Nia Dyati, one of the members of the UMMA UMKM who specializes in bakery, particularly brownies. Through this activity, it is expected that UMMA MSMEs cookie production will become more diverse and support consumers’ immune systems as they are made from traditional ‘jamu’ ingredients, such as ‘beras kencur’ (galangan and rice), curcuma, and ‘kunyit asam’ (turmeric and tamarind).
At the end of the event, participants were asked to provide feedback by completing a hedonic test sheet to measure their preference for the products. Based on the data obtained, the respondents expressed that, out of the three flavors, they preferred ‘beras kencur’ (galangan and rice) cookies the most, followed by ‘kunyit asam’ (turmeric and tamarind), and lastly, curcuma. HUMAS UNS
Reporter: Dwi Hastuti