SweetHomecomingA visit to a sugar shack in the maple forests of euebec bringsbackchildhoodmemories. ByJoDTHELMER

SNlART TRAVELER

HEN IWAS EIGHT, sinkingmy teeth into a piece of freshlymade maple taffi' was even bet-

ter than chomping the ears off of choco-late bunnies at Easter or scarfing muttiplecandy bars on Hailoween.

Once a year, I boarded the bus withclassmates or hopped in the car with myparents and traveled from the suburbs ofToronto into the dense woods of Ontarioand Quebec where maple syrup wasmade. The best taffy was handmade atsugar shacks-family-run syrup opera-tions, some of which have reception hallsoffering tours and home-styie meals fea-turing pancakes doused in maple syrup.

I braved lorv temperatures and enduredtree-tapping and sap-boiling demos just soI could watch the real magic happen: themoment when an expert hand poured thewarm syrup over a plank of packed snowand with a few flicks of the wrist made asublime confection on a Popsicle stick.One bite of the sticky, sweet treat, and fro-zen fingers and toes were forgotten.

Now, 30 years later, I travel from myadopted home in North Carolina to theSucrerie de la Montagne in Rigaud, a vil_lage 43 miies outside of Montreal. I want

44 NATToNAT cEocRApHrc TRAVELER MARCH 2011

to find out if my childhood memoriesstand up to my aduk sensibilities.

The long-forgotten but familiar scent ofburning logs and frying sausages hits mewhen I enter Ihe cabane d suue, as sugarshacks are cailed in Canada's French-speaking provinces. In an era when mostsuch enterprises have retired their galva-nized buckets and mechanized the manu-facturing process) Sucrerie de la Montagnestill does things the old-fashioned way.

During a tour,co-owner Stefan Faucherexplains the process ofmaking maple syrup,from tapping trees andcollecting sap from buck-ets hung throughout theforest to building a fireand boiling the liquiduntil it thickens intosyrup. He telis tales ofgenerations of familieshe has known who returnyear after year. I over-hear a French-Canadianmother tell her daughterthe same thing my own

English-Canadian mother told me-thatshe used to visit the sugar shack when shewas little, too.

I've never been here before, but it feelsas if I've come home.The essential expe-rience hasn't changed. Draft horses stillpull a sleigh through rhe snow, metal pailsglint in the light of the winter sun, and thesweet smell of syrup and fresh wood waftfrom the 1og cabin. The adult me is farmore interested in the syruping processthan the child me was, but both grown-upand kid still deiight in the sweet reward.

I get a chance to try the syrup when thelunch bell rings. In the dining room, serv-ers wearing floral aprons bustle aroundoversize wooden tables to drop off carafesof syrup. I watch as diners pour the amberliquid liberally over tleir meals.

Lunch is a traditional feast that consistsof maple-smoked ham, meat pies, mashedpotatoes, baked beans, and pancakes. Sit-ting bottom-to-bottom on rough-hewnbenches, I strike up a conversation with atour bus driver and discover that he livesjust five miles from the town where I grewup; he too has vivid memories of visitingsugar shacks as a child. On the other sideof me, a family toasts my visit with glassesof caribou, a Qu6becois drink made ofwine, whisky, and maple syrup.

As my stack of pancakes steep in syrup,Faucher stops by and motions to the stagewhere a man in lumberjack shirt plays abeautiful rendition of La Bohime tsrngnothing but a saw and a makeshift bow."He's good, eh?"

Indeed.The only thing missing is mapietaffg which can't be made properly with-out snow. Faucher promises to have apiece waiting on my next visit. The musiccompels some older couples to get upand dance. As the room empties, Faucherand I talk-about preserving tradition

and dating and dogs.

t lt's a conversation I'dhave wirh a big brorher,not someone I have justmet hours before. Atthis sugar house in theQuebec woods, every-tling from the cracklingfire ro rhe gut-warmingliquor feels comfortableand sweet, like family. r

Frotn Februarg throughApril, the Sucrerie de laMontagne ffirs a packagethat includes a full meal,tottr, sleigh ride, and mapleraffy for about 830 (www. s ucrerie de latnontagne. com ),

Hello'angan Lunch is served family-style at the Sucrerie de la Montagne.

Fresh maple taffy on a bed of snow

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