Found! — Alcool de Menthe de RICQLÈS (Best P'mint Extract)

I'm mostly over it now but I used to be a peppermint addict. I still fondly remember the day, decades ago now, that I received a gift of a small bottle of Alcool de Menthe de RICQLÈS, a peppermint extract made in France since 1838. I'd never had mint with such white-hot intensity and enjoyed every last drop but wasn't able to find another bottle.

I've been looking through Hong Kong Apothecary: A Visual History of Chinese Medicine Packaging, a beautiful book, highly recommended. Newly curious about Chinese medicines, I was browsing the selection at Chinatown Market the other day. One blue, white and red box caught my attention: Peppermint Cure by Ricqlès. Could it be? The label indicated it was indeed made in France, then exported by a British firm to Hong Kong, before being imported to the US.



I tried it sprinkled on a sugar cube, in a glass of cold water, in a cup of hot cocoa, and even dashed some straight onto my tongue. No doubt about it, it's the genuine article. Fans of peppermint unfamiliar with Ricqlès have a treat in store.

The package insert is almost worth the price of a bottle ($6.50 at Chinatown Market but I'm sure you can find it cheaper). It seems the stuff will take care of nearly any malady.



Chinatown Market
2121 S Archer Av
Chicago
312-881-0068

I'll keep my eye out for it. Thanks.

Cool find, Peter. I, too, am a fancier of peppermint.

Based on the package insert, it seems the extract can be taken internally or applied topically. I hurt my back on Thanksgiving hefting a big bag of lump charcoal, and based on the picture of the woman bending over the table (or maybe the one getting her shoulder rubbed), I'm guessing it's supposed to be good for back and shoulder pain...and it's probably applied to the sore area for a cooling heat (which, at the moment, sounds fantastic).

If you buy Ricqlès for relief from back pain I'm afraid you might be disappointed. I'd never used it for topical application before but last night I rubbed some on my shoulder. Other than a very pleasant smell I didn't notice much effect. Certainly nothing like the menthol and/or camphor balms. For aches and pains I much prefer another culinary ingredient, capsaicin. Those pepper-pads like Salonpas Hot really seem to do something.

Rene G wrote:If you buy Ricqlès for relief from back pain I'm afraid you might be disappointed. I'd never used it for topical application before but last night I rubbed some on my shoulder. Other than a very pleasant smell I didn't notice much effect. Certainly nothing like the menthol and/or camphor balms. For aches and pains I much prefer another culinary ingredient, capsaicin. Those pepper-pads like Salonpas Hot really seem to do something.

On Thanksgiving, to relive my back pain, I tried Aleve (multiple doses), aspirin, ibuprofin. Finally, I took a shot of whiskey, just one, and that worked just fine. Suprisingly fine, in fact.

René G,

You should consider yourself a lucky man if you found the authentic Ricqlès, in its traditional small bottle of 50 ml, for
$ 6.50.
I was in Paris a couple of weeks ago and bought a similar bottle for 6 euros 80, the equivalent of 9 U.S dollars in a discount ''parapharmacie'' (a drugstore that does not sell actual medications).
When I was young, in France, every family had a bottle of Ricqlès in the medicine cabinet. If a grand ma had her ''vapors'', or a grand pa was feeling uncertain on his legs, quick a couple of drops on a cube of sugar in half a glass of water would bring them back to normal in no time.
It was also used on a damp cloth to relieve a headache or to refresh an overheated forehead on a hot summer night.
And in winter time when nasty colds affected children mothers would drop a few drops in a bowl of hot water and their sick kids would inhale the vapors to clear their congested nasal passages.
But my best memories of Ricqlès, whose original factory was located in the beautiful town of Uzes, not far from my native town of Nimes, are associated with summertime, when we drank lots of the very refreshing Ricqlès soda that they started to commercialize in the 50`s . Best soda I ever had.
But many years before Ricqlès most popular product was its very strong mint candy that French soldiers sucked on for comfort during WWI in the trenches. I used to love them when I was preparing an exam in High-School.
They still exist nowadays.
Until the early 60's the ad slogan for Ricqulès was '' La Menthe Forte Qui Réconforte'' (The strong mint that bring comfort)
No wonder: Ricqulès contains 80 % alcohool.
Ricqlès in 1996 was sold to the huge French spirits Pernod-Ricard group, then much later in 2001 to the British group Cadbury- Schweppe's and was for a while made in their division that bottles Orangina.
In 2008 the Ricqlès product line was bought back by a French group called Vie Et Santé.
I have strong doubts that they would have sold their manufacturing secrets through a license agreement with an Asian country.

alain40 wrote:In 2008 the Ricqlès product line was bought back by a French group called Vie Et Santé.
I have strong doubts that they would have sold their manufacturing secrets through a license agreement with an Asian country.

Rene G wrote:The label indicated it was indeed made in France, then exported by a British firm to Hong Kong, before being imported to the US.

While it was marketed to Asians, it was made in France.

Regards,