Indonesia's Madura Island known for traditional 'love potions'

The Indonesian island of Madura is famous for two things: bull racing and love potions. The concoctions made and sold on the island off the east coast of Java are touted as a natural way of restoring youth to a woman's reproductive canal without having to resort to plastic surgery.

"Our traditional herbs are indeed famous for making women feel like a virgin again and giving the vaginal canal a tighter feel than before they gave birth," said Fachruzah, 36, a maker of the traditional potions, known as "jamu ramuan" in the Indonesian language.

Fachruzah, who like many Indonesians has only one name, is a seventh-generation "peramu jamu," and has worked in the Madurese Crown, her family-run shop in Madura's Pamekasan regency, for 20 years.

"Madurese traditional herbs are also well-known as holistic body treatments for women that want to flatten their bellies and make their bodies smell fragrant all the time, especially the vagina," Fachruzah said, giggling.

Madura is a large, rugged island located about 740 kilometres east of Jakarta. It is separated from East Java province and Surabaya, the second-largest city in Indonesia, by a narrow channel.