As a Canadian, I’m often asked if there really is a secret vault filled with sweet golden maple syrup somewhere in Canada. There is, in Laurierville, close to Québec City. Canada accounts for 75 per cent or so of the global maple syrup market, with Québec representing over 95 per cent of Canadian exports.
Even though maple syrup is so intrinsically Canadian, it took a spring trip to some Québec cabanes à sucre (sugar shacks) for me to dig into the illustrious sugar bush’s roots.
At Rigaud, an hour from Montreal, a drive down a picturesque side road lined with maple trees brings me to Sucrerie de la Montagne, where I meet with owner Pierre Faucher. A burly man with a Santa-style beard, Faucher’s wearing the traditional garb worn by coureurs des bois, French Canadian traders of the 1600s. Over a glass of Wapiti, his own maple-infused wine, he talks me through the 45-year history of his cabane, the only sugar shack recognized as both a Québec National Historic Site and a Canadian Tourism Commission signature experience.
“When I started,” says Faucher, “I just wanted a sugar shack to make maple syrup, feed people and to live in nature.” It was important to him to keep his family’s Québecois traditions alive. In the late ’80s and early ’90s, he salvaged some old cabins from around the countryside and now offers four rustic cabins for overnight guests.
Maple sap, which syrup is made from, varies each year, and Faucher advises that 2022 was a good year. Sap flow is temperature dependent, requiring a specific rise above 0C and overnight freezing. “Always before a change of temperature, the trees react. Tomorrow it’s going to rain,” says Faucher, “so the sap might run all night long.”
At Sucrerie, they continue to collect the syrup by hand in buckets, a centuries-old method. Various grades of maple syrup are made, from light golden yellow at the beginning of the season, to the more popular dark earthy amber, harvested toward the end of the season when the tree is pulling more minerals.
Out front of the sugar-boiling shack, tire d’erable, a staple at all sugar shacks, is poured in lines on clean snow and, as it cools, popsicle sticks are used to roll the maple taffy into a chewy lollipop. The wood-fired bakery is pumping out fresh loaves of bread daily.
Sugar shack meals tend to be hearty fare, traditional dishes eaten by early harvesters who spent long, cold days in the woods. Feasts are generally some combination of pea soup, baked beans, cretons (minced pork and spices), oreilles de crisse (fried pork rinds), omelette, ham and sausage cooked in maple syrup and tourtière meat pie. A jug of maple syrup on the table is for pouring over everything.
For dessert there’s maple sugar pie, for sure, and sometimes other dishes like homemade donuts. More often than not, as you eat, there will be musicians playing rigodon, traditional Québecois folk music featuring fiddles, the accordion and musical spoons.
Just south and east of Montreal – farm country filled with silos and orchards – my next stop is at Érablière la Goudrelle. This Mont Saint Grégoire region is known as the capital of sugar shacks, with seven established cabanes de sucre, four within two kilometres of each other.
Goudrelle is also a family operation, established in 1948. Here I meet manager and family member, Camélie Gingras, who shows me around the massive lodge which can seat 1,000 hungry folks at a time in several large hall-style dining rooms.
Goudrelle has incorporated some modern touches like a small vegetarian buffet, options to what is traditionally a meat-heavy meal. Within the building, there is also a dance hall, and outside a small petting zoo and kids’ aerial course park. Like most, their syrup technology is modern with blue tubing stretched between the trees, carrying the maple water to a central station for production.
At Mont-Saint-Hilaire, I visit La Maison Amérindienne, a museum that highlights First Nations people. There’s evidence of Indigenous in this region for at least 4,000 years, and the maple forests date back at least 5,000. In fact, it was Indigenous people who taught the early settlers how to harvest the sweet sap and boil it to make maple syrup. The Québécois also copied the initial Indigenous gatherings for sugar season.
During maple season, a large iron pot hangs in the firepit at the front entrance of the museum to boil maple sap, and Indigenous-inspired, maple-infused meals are served. Their famous sugar pie is available year-round in the café.
Further north is Érable Prince in Saint-Wenceslas. Family operated since 1967, Érable Prince has a real small-community-hall feel to it. Snow is still on the ground here at the beginning of April, and sixth-generation Marion Prince and I line up for a sleigh ride. As we circle through the maple forest, she points out relics handed down through the generations. Other activities are a museum filled with old farm artifacts and a petting zoo.
My last stop is at Érablière Aux Petits Plaisirs in Warwick. Even though owners Frédéric and Marie-Eve Goyer have only been in business for 10 years, Frédéric’s grandma served sugar shack meals in her home for over 50 years, and they’ve strived to bring her traditional recipes to life.
Part of their niche is to combine traditional dishes with new gourmet experiences. Meals are served through the sugaring season, but products like their signature saucisses moreaux (named after Frédéric’s grandma), an artisanal sausage made from beef that they raise, are available all year long. Cooking classes are also offered to teach people how to make their own maple products.
Even though there are traditional similarities between all the sugar shacks, each one really does have a unique flair. If you want to experience a few, like I did, it’s easy to drive between them. Be sure to reserve ahead if you want to enjoy a meal, as they book up fast. Weekends are busiest when families commonly get together to celebrate at their favourite cabane. Most places (except for Sucrerie de la Montagne, which is open year-round) operate for two months during the sugaring off season, generally from the end of February to the end of April.
What a sweet Canadian tradition.
IF YOU GO:
For more info on these regions:
Bonjour Québec (info for across Québec): https://www.bonjourquebec.com/en
Tourisme Montérégie: https://www.tourisme-monteregie.qc.ca/en
Tourisme Centre-du-Québec: https://www.tourismecentreduquebec.com/en
Museums and sugar shacks to visit: Sucrerie de la Montagne; Érablière la Goudrelle; La Maison Amérindienne; Érablière Prince; Érablière Aux Petits Plaisirs
Where to stay: Hotel Rive Gauche in Beloeil; Hotel Best Western in Drummondville; Hotel le Victorin in Victoriaville
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