In a grove of century-old maple trees 30 minutes east of Montréal a wagon pulled by a pair of Belgian horses waits to take you back in time, past a barn where you can smell crusty bread baking in a wood-fired oven. In spring, the trees wear tin buckets to collect flowing maple sap that sweetens the air as it is being boiled down to golden nectar.
The wagon arrives at the front door of the Sucrerie de la Montagne, a traditional Quebec sugar shack that is open year-round. Inside, the rustic log dining hall is filled with lively Québec fiddle music as adults and kids dance and sing along. Long, rough-hewn tables are lined up in front of a huge stone fireplace. Sip a glass of traditional “caribou” - sweetened wine and whiskey – and savour a bowl of pea soup with ham, the starter of a parade of hearty winter dishes. Waiters in period costume deliver platters of Canadian back bacon, maple-smoked ham, baked beans, country sausages, tourtière - meat pie - with homemade pickles. Try crispy fried pork rinds – nicknamed “Christ’s ears” – and pour fresh maple syrup over everything
Dessert is luscious warm maple sugar pie. Then head outside to twirl a wooden stick around warm maple taffy cooled on a trough of snow. If you want to linger, finish the day old-style by settling into a cozy log cabin with your own fireplace to spend the night among the maples.
