Balsam poplar
Populus balsamifera
The sticky buds of balsam poplar, the famous balm of Gilead, perfume the riverbanks at the first thaw.
Portrait
Every spring, before the snow has even finished melting, a sweet resinous smell drifts along the rivers of the Laurentians. That is the balsam poplar waking up. Its long, pointed buds are coated in an amber resin that sticks to the fingers and perfumes everything it touches. The tree itself is tall and straight, with grey furrowed bark and oval leaves, glossy above and whitish below.
Balm of Gilead
European settlers named it after a biblical balm, and the name stuck. The Indigenous peoples of the North knew these buds long before, and trappers rubbed them on their traps to mask the human scent. It is one of the most fragrant ingredients in the entire Canadian forest.
Harvest
The window is short: two or three weeks between late March and late April, depending on the year. Étienne picks the buds one by one from low branches or from trees brought down by the spring floods, never more than a handful per tree. He comes home with sticky hands that smell of it for days.
In the workshop
The buds macerate for several weeks in avocado oil, which takes on a lovely golden colour and a scent of honey, resin and springtime. That oil is the base of several of the shop's balms, and one of the smells customers recognize with their eyes closed.
Our products are artisanal plant-based preparations. They are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.
