Ancestral recipe, modern wisdom

The original recipe for Eau d’Arquebusade, which we owe to the monks of St-Antoine, in Vercors, France, has been revitalized today in ARQUADE, with a few new secrets that make it even more effective.

ARQUADE Eau d’Arquebusade is produced entirely in Switzerland. This water, which produces an “incomparable impact,” comprises 75 extracts of aromatic and medicinal plants, the majority of which grow in the French and Swiss Alps, as well as in the Carpathians, in Hungary, where they are picked by artisans who often grow them by hand.

The strict selection of the plants is a crucial stage of the process. Indeed, their preparation for production requires an essential and important sorting phase. This stage also includes a very strict quality control over the raw material. Among other obligations, our suppliers must meet strict specifications which impose an entirely natural growing process that is free of additives or treatments. Thanks to the quality of the soils and climate in the fields in which the plants are cultivated, both in the Carpathians and Alps, the medicinal plants and flowers used have a particularly high concentration of active ingredients.

ARQUADE Eau d’Arquebusade is still produced based of the original recipe dating back several centuries. However, tradition does not stand still! Thus, faithful to the spirit of the wise monks, we constantly seek to improve our formula, and our painstaking work has today allowed us to significantly augment the product’s effectiveness. How? By making very fine adjustments, in certain stages of production, in the maceration times, and in rebalancing certain plant blends – as well as other operations that remain our jealously guarded secret.

The alcohol and water used for the maceration process, as well as their proportions, are closely controlled before and after this stage, which requires accurate and consistent craftsmanship. Thus, not an hour goes by that a manual or control process isn’t performed, for several days on. The degree of alcohol is also closely monitored, within a concentration that must never exceed 73 degrees, in order to ensure the integrity of the active ingredients of the plants used.

During the distillation process, plant agents are combined in the alcohol vapor, and then precipitate with the essential oils. This is how ARQUADE Eau d’Arquebusade is created.