Iconic Canadiana: Where to enjoy a taste of irresistible maple syrup in Quebec
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The dishes at La Cabane du Coureur, which offers a more refined gourmand take on the sugar shack experience. By Tourisme Montérégie
Sitting at a communal table at La Cabane du Coureur, a sugar shack in Saint-Marc-sur-Richelieu, Que., about a 45-minute drive from downtown Montreal, I’m gazing at plate after plate of the richest food imaginable: split pea soup with mounds of slow-cooked ham, oreilles de crisse (pork rinds), sausage cassoulet topped with foie gras sauce, and stacks of tiny crepes. At the centre of the table is a towering bottle of maple syrup, to be liberally poured over every bite, both sweet and savoury.
As I lick a drop of syrup from my fork, I realize I’ve never felt so full. I’ve also never felt so remarkably Canadian.
As deeply as maple syrup is entwined with our cultural identity (the maple leaf is on our national flag, for goodness’ sake), many Canadians take this liquid gold for granted. The syrup comes from boiling down the maple water or sap that flows from sugar maple trees, typically between late February and early May (though this season is seemingly shifting with climate change).
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Sucrerie de la Montagne is located in the maple syrup tourism hotspot of Montérégie.
By Rahul Kalvapalle
Modern syrup production is big business, but the process is not far removed from how Quebecers have been making syrup for well over 100 years. There’s also ample evidence that Indigenous communities extracted sap from trees for early spring nutrition and medicinal purposes long before European settlers even dreamed of pouring it on pancakes.
While there is some maple syrup production in Ontario and the Atlantic provinces, Quebec is ground zero for both maple syrup production and tourism. According to Québec Maple Syrup Producers (QMSP), Quebec produces 72 per cent of the world’s maple syrup (and makes up 90 per cent of Canada’s production).
With approximately 57 million tree taps across the province, there are plenty of small producers welcoming visitors to “sugar off,” as the locals call it. Montérégie, the region that runs south and east of Montreal, is home to a relatively small number of taps compared to eastern regions like Gaspésie, but it’s responsible for a large chunk of Quebec’s maple syrup tourism, thanks to its proximity to the big city.
Quebec’s sugar shacks are typically only in full swing during the maple production season, as they entice crowds of locals and tourists to indulge in over-the-top meals. Some, like La Cabane du Coureur or Mirabel’s famed (but very-hard-to-book) Au Pied de Cochon, fall into the more refined gourmand category. Others, including the very popular and delightfully kitschy Sucrerie de la Montagne in Rigaud, favour more traditional (and touristy) versions of tourtière, sugar pie and ham.
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The traditional cabane à sucre dishes at Sucrerie de la Montagne.
By Rahul Kalvapalle
Most of these venues are working maple farms, surrounded by trees fit with traditional taps and buckets or, increasingly, a network of bright blue vacuum tubes for more reliable extraction. It’s worth buying house-label syrups to try to detect differences in each one; outside of the sugar shacks, maple syrup is sent to QMSP and treated as a commodity product. (It’s sold, for instance, to grocery store brands that don’t specify the producer or region of origin.)
While sugaring off is a spring phenomenon, maple trees take on a new (if less sweet) life during the fall leaf-peeping season, and in addition to visiting the odd year-round sugar shack like Sucrerie de la Montagne, maple lovers can still pay homage outside of spring by seeking out small producers of maple liqueurs, maple sugar, maple butter and even maple wine (fermented maple water rather than grape juice). Spiritually speaking, maple is always in season in Quebec.
As for my own maple odyssey, even after overdoing it with my extravagant cabane à sucre meal, I happily found myself twirling a drizzle of maple taffy from a snow-covered table with a popsicle stick on my way out the door for one last taste of pure maple. I’m a good Canadian — who am I to resist?
Just the factsBonjour Québec, the province’s tourism board, maintains a list of sugar shacks — more than 90 of them — online at bonjourquebec.com. For easier travel research, the locations are sortable by region and season, and viewable on a map.
Elizabeth Chorney-Booth travelled as a guest of Bonjour Québec and Tourisme Montérégie, which did not review or approve this article.
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https://www.toronto.com/things-to-do/travel/iconic-canadiana-where-to-enjoy-a-taste-of-irresistible-maple-syrup-in-quebec/article_f66ebb78-3547-5d25-8d63-2ace50cd5f8f.html
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