As you wandered through a market in the Laurentians, you may have run across Élisabeth Voyer, a much-loved sorceress, and tasted organic raw nut butters or a presentation of vials of mother tinctures from the business Ah! Tout cru dans le bec(Ah! All raw in the mouth).

Two products with completely different commercials goals.

Confidences shared by her clients prompted Élisabeth Voyer, a dressmaker for 40 years, to take training in psychotherapy that made her realize that emotions and diet are linked.

During the ten years she spent studying naturopathy, she discovered the benefits of nuts and the importance of their transformation process if their nutritional value were to be retained and digestive problems avoided.

Making a nut butter that retained these qualities was a logical next step.

How?

1: Soak the nuts to release the enzymes so they are more easily digestible.

2: Dehydrate them without using a preserving agent.

3: Grind them with a millstone, not with metal, to avoid oxidation and heating of the oil.  Result: live nut butter!

Then Louise Gingras, an experienced business woman, joined the venture to create Ah! Tout cru dans le bec. After only three years, sixty or so natural food outlets across Québec and Ontario sell their butters.

Mother tinctures

For Élisabeth, making mother tinctures from a mixture of fresh plants and alcohol had been an enthralling pastime since 1970 when a Wentworth neighbour, a native of Trinidad and a “medicine man” from generations of the same, taught her to recognize plants and extract their active elements.

Each tincture has its own use. But be careful, there are restrictions and counter-indications for their use, which have to be followed exactly. These latter vary from person to person. “You don’t improvise in this field,” says Élisabeth, the prudent sorceress.

Ah! Tout cru dans le bec

crudanslebec.com

By the same author: Pure, excellent, local honey (Click the image below)