hungry traveller. Where life is sweet and the welcome warm (once the snow melts) When winter begins to loosen its icy grip, there’s cause for celebration in Quebec – and it’s not just because spring is around the corner. Claire Nelson visited a traditional sugar shack during maple season and had a come-back-for-more taste of the local hospitality he deep bind Canada with all things maple the French-Canadians held on freeze of the – it’s as much a part of the culture tight to their heritage. Today the T Canadian as ice hockey. The maple leaf is province is predominantly French- winter is coming the symbol on the national flag, speaking (it’s the official language), to an end, and with after all. And if maple syrup is the and expressions of Europe are it the thawing of blood that runs through Canada’s everywhere, in the classical snow, the first optimistic buds veins, then Quebec is its beating architecture of Quebec City and the appearing on trees and the faint heart. Nearly 70 per cent of the countless boulangeries. But it’s still sound of honking as geese return world’s maple syrup comes from Canada, and what you get is an to the lakes. Across this vast, this single province. undeniable je ne sais quoi set among rugged country, Canadians are Quebec is noticeably different the breathtaking North American preparing for what might just from the rest of the country – and wilderness. be the most anticipated time of this is a point of pride. The region Embraced by the province of the year: maple season. was originally colonised by France, Ontario to the west and New There’s no denying the ties that and when it later fell to the British, Brunswick to the east, Quebec is divided lopsidedly in two by the St Lawrence River. The colossal northern region is charged with wild lakes and rivers and stretches right up into the Arctic tundra. In winter it’s an area for skiing, snowshoeing and dog-sledding. The tiny sliver of southern Quebec is pinned to the northern part by the two major cities (Montreal and Quebec City) which span the river and contain most of the province’s population. Southern Quebec is also home to most of the province’s 13,500 maple syrup producers, making this the prime destination for people on the maple trail. THE SWEET SPOT Sugaring – the collection of maple SHORT AND SWEET In spring, as the snow sap – takes place in early spring, melts, the maple syrup when temperatures hit the sweet season starts and lasts PHOTOGRAPHS LAUREN KOLYN spot between freezing nights → IMAGES ISTOCK/GETTY PHOTOGRAPHS: for about six weeks deliciousmagazine.co.uk <#R#> hungry traveller. and warmer days. The finely of maple syrup making, welcoming used to say, ‘We have to work with balanced temperature fluctuation in visitors to celebrate this age-old nature.’ And that’s what I do.” builds pressure inside the tree craftsmanship. Back inside the shack, the dining St Lawrence and encourages the sap to flow. room was ready for lunch. Long QUEBEC River NEW N The season lasts for about six WORKING WITH NATURE communal tables with chequered Quebec BRUNSWICK City weeks, during which time the I travelled to Montreal to get a taste tablecloths were lined up in front of E W trunks are tapped continuously of it myself. There are plenty of the large windows with views of the S until temperatures creep up a few sugar shacks a short distance from snowy woods. André’s wife Danielle PIC BOIS more degrees, the sap stops and the city, and I made a beeline for was in the kitchen, managing the Montreal MAINE it’s all over for another year. one about an hour’s drive east in food. Today, as with every Friday, ONTARIO Although the start of the season Brigham, a small mountainside Saturday and Sunday, Pic Bois was has historically been between village in the Eastern Townships. cooking for up to 125 visitors. VERMONT 8 and 12 March, the exact timings As I turned my car into the woods NEW are ruled by the whims of the I saw smoke rising through the early THE BEST KIND Toronto HAMPSHIRE weather. The effects of climate morning mist, and soon a wooden OF COMFORT FOOD NEW YORK ATLANTIC change are already causing cabin came into view, a rustic idyll. The meal is key to the cabane à OCEAN noticeable inconsistencies: in recent My destination was Pic Bois, a sucre experience. During maple years, warmer temperatures have cabane à sucre run by the Pollender season, almost every sugar shack OPPOSITE PAGE, OTHER SUGAR SHACKS CLOCKWISE initiated sap flow as early as family since 1993. André Pollender will serve up a variant of the CHILL OUT WORTH SEEKING OUT Beatnik Hotel FROM TOP LEFT mid-February leading to occasional came out to greet me. “Bonjour, traditional menu, centred around Traditional maple VEGAN-FRIENDLY: Handfield bumper years. Then again, last hello!” he called out, eyes smiling a few key dishes: soupe aux pois syrup tap using (45 minutes’ drive northeast of Montreal) year’s cold daytime temperatures above a grey beard, red checked (split-pea soup); fèves au lard a metal bucket; It’s rare to find a sugar shack menu that offers maple syrup caused Quebec’s syrup output to shirt and sturdy boots – every bit (baked beans in fat with maple vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free options, but farmer André drop almost 27 per cent. In this the quintessential Canadian. syrup); tourtière (meat pie); and Pollender; as this countryside inn happily makes the effort. business, Mother Nature calls the André had learned how to make oreilles de crisse (fried pork rinds). the sap is heated There’s accommodation and a spa onsite too, so it gives off shots – which is a problem for an maple syrup as a young lad, It’s food that nods back to the you don’t have to move far after your lavish lunch. clouds of steam; industry that contributes CAN$384 watching his father and grandfather pioneering days of lumberjacks and emptying the aubergehandfield.com/en/sugar-shack million (£225 million) to Canada’s tapping trees using the traditional fur-trappers, who needed high- WHERE TO STAY buckets of sap annual GDP. methods. André, however, became calorie sustenance to keep them NEAR PIC BOIS is a daily task; GOING GOURMET: Cabane à Sucre Au Pied snow shoes for Maple syrup isn’t called liquid a cabinetmaker but had his epiphany going in brutally cold conditions. • BEATNIK HOTEL De Cochon (45 minutes’ drive west of Montreal) getting around gold for nothing. It’s about 25 times one morning. “I wanted to buy some For the rest of us it’s simply good, A comfortable aparthotel the woods in Renowned chef and restaurateur Martin Picard more valuable than oil – which is maple syrup locally, and I couldn’t old-fashioned comfort food. The just down the road from Pic winter puts a twist on tradition with this cavernous where the Federation of Quebec find the right taste, like my father spread on the day of my visit also Bois. Mixing up the best bits temple to meat and maple. With dishes such Maple Syrup Producers comes in: was producing,” he told me. “So included maple sausages, roast of rustic and retro style, the as suckling pig with duck fat crepes and apple a government-sanctioned agency I thought: I’ll have to make my own.” potatoes, coleslaw and a crisp green 17 rooms and studios feature crumble pie with maple taffy ice cream, this that’s essentially a cartel. The We headed into the woods, our salad with Pic Bois maple dressing. record players rather than feast isn’t for the faint of heart. subject is a divisive one among the boots crunching in the snow. I could The room was filled with the chatter TVs, and the folksy, sociable aupieddecochon.ca workers of Quebec – not everyone hear the rumble of a tractor in the of families, friends and strangers vibe carries into the common is happy working under such distance as workers completed the getting to know each other. There areas, where there’s a ping control (they’re obliged to sell their daily task of checking the metal were bottles of house maple syrup pong table, library and pool. syrup to the Federation). But on the buckets hanging from every tree. plonked along each table, much like Doubles from £80; plus side it protects an industry that All 1,100 of them… André’s is a ketchup in a diner, and I felt no beatnikhotel.com would otherwise shrink or swell comparatively small operation. shame in drizzling syrup on a slice of every year depending on the yield “My neighbour on the other hill has fresh baguette; this was pure maple • LE ST-MARTIN BROMONT each season. The Federation sets 27,000 trees,” he told me. “One of oblivion and I was there to enjoy it. HOTEL & SUITES quotas for export sales and anything the bigger ones I know has 150,000.” Dessert was a rich maple pie with Fireplaces and mountain over that level is kept in a vast reserve Maple trees have to reach about crumbly shortcrust pastry, and views are par for the course bank to top up future shortfalls. 12 years of age before they’re tapped grands-pères au sirop d’érable: in this chateau-style hotel 15 Sales to the public, however, are for sap. At Pic Bois they use the tender dumplings cooked in maple minutes from Pic Bois.