Bali’s Healing Plants

For hundreds of years the Balinese have used a wide range of native plants, herbs and spices for therapeutic, traditional healing and health enhancing purposes. Along the roadsides and within the beautiful gardens of Bali’s holiday villas you will see numerous fruit trees, including bananas, coconuts, papaya, passion fruit, mangoes, avocados and jack-fruit. The young leaves of the avocado tree are a cure for hypertension, and the papaya is great source of vitamins. The fleshy papaya fruit aids digestion and helps cure constipation, while its sap is an anti-toxic used for wasp and scorpion stings.

Indigenous herbs, spices and healing plants can be found growing in the rice fields surrounding Villa M Bali and they are all commonly used in Balinese cooking. Galangal root, for example, is one of 20 different kinds of ginger found in Bali and the flavor is very hot; it can be used internally for a cough syrup and, externally if rubbed on to the skin, it prevents itching and is effective anti-fungal agent. Turmeric is natural antiseptic, kangkung (water spinach) is used to help prevent insomnia, and red hibiscus flowers are used for pink food colouring.

Villa M Bali is located in the close-to-nature area of Umalas in Bali. You will have privileged insight to the everyday rural life of Bali.