Story & Photography | Renee Suen
There’s never a bad time to visit Montreal, but it becomes especially wonderful during sugaring season with Montérégie, the land of the cabanes à sucre, just an hour south of the city. More than 90 per cent of the world’s maple syrup is produced in Québec, and the practice of collecting maple tree sap to produce maple syrup takes place from mid-February through early April, during the sugar moon, (the same time as the spring equinox).
During sugar season, you can sample maple taffy made on snow.
There’s fun for everyone, whether it’s visiting a maple farm and seeing buckets hanging from tapped trees, or modern methods involving tubes attached to a vacuum pump that’s transformed into the golden elixir when the sap is heated while undergoing the Maillard reaction, or partaking in an indulgent sugar shack feast.
There’s live music and spoon-playing at Sucrerie de la Montagne on evenings where there are large groups.
Real maple syrup is rich in antioxidants and is a natural sweetener that’s complex in flavour with four grades: Golden (lightest and delicate); Amber (richer, classic maple syrup); Dark (robust maple flavour); Very Dark (strongest, good for cooking).
The different grades of maple syrup explained by vice-president Stefan Faucher at Sucrerie de la Montagne.
Gastronomes and serious imbibers should check out Hôtel Rive Gauche,(20 minutes from Montréal), that’s best known for its restaurant, Le Coureur des Bois, which boasts an impressive 18,000-bottle cellar of over 5,100 references, that’s been distinguished with a Grand Award of Excellence by Wine Spectator since 2018. Here, chefs Éric Fortin and Véronique Charron are behind a creative and sustainable farm-to-table bistronomic experience using fare from its nearby farm.
The wine cellar of Le Coureur des Bois at the Hôtel Rive Gauche boasts an impressive collection that’s been distinguished with a Grand Award of Excellence by Wine Spectator.
Le Coureur des Bois farm provides maple syrup, eggs, honey, herbs, vegetables and mushrooms to the hotel, but also doubles as La Cabane du Coureur during sugaring season.
Place your trust in the chefs and indulge in the six-course Chef’s Table experience. Besides dining in a semi-private dining room in the kitchen, the meal can be enhanced with a stellar wine pairing by chef-sommelier Jean-Simon RiouxRanger that could include some hard-to-find vintages.
Like most sugar shacks, homemade maple syrup graces the table.
To experience a modern, gastronomic-centric sugar shack, head to family-friendly La Cabane du Coureur, located at Le Coureur des Bois’ farm in St-Marc-sur-Richelieu. Led by executive chef-partner Jean-Sebastien Giguère, an alum of Toqué! and Au Pied de Cochon’s Cabane à Sucre, the refined menu adds a gourmet twist to traditional dishes.
The contemporary sugar shack feast at Le Coureur des Bois.
Gourmands familiar with cooking at an international level will be pleased with the refined contemporary cuisine served at Le Coureur des Bois.
The cassoulet at Le Coureur des Bois may include homemade sausage and bacon, all in a foie gras sauce.
For instance, split rolls are stuffed to the brim with sweet Nordic shrimp salad and crowned with airy-crisp curls of oreilles de crises, (deepfried salted fatback), a traditional side dish. Plenty of seasonal vegetables and starches grace the table, along with rich numbers like a cassoulet in a sauce that’s mounted with foie gras or a supple hunk of focaccia that’s slathered with truffle-dusted burrata and matched by an impressive wine list.
Creative seasonal cuisine using local ingredients, such as foie gras, is expertly prepared at Le Coureur des Bois in the Hôtel Rive Gauche.
Focaccia is slathered with burrata then dusted with truffles at Le Coureur des Bois.
True to sugar shack form, each table is equipped with the venue’s own maple syrup to use as you see fit. Bonus: there’s also a completely vegetarian menu for those eschewing meat, an outdoor maple taffy table, plus a petting zoo.
See how maple sap is collected from centuries-old maple trees at Québec Heritage site Sucrerie de la Montagne.
It’s as traditional French Canadian as it gets at Sucrerie de la Montagne. Located in the heart of a 50-hectare grove of century-old maples, the Québec Heritage site takes visitors back in time that might start with a ride in a horse-drawn wagon before touring the village-like centre with founder Pierre Faucher or his son, Stefan, to see how sap is collected and placed into a traditional wood-fired evaporator to make maple syrup.
Take a ride in a horse-drawn sleigh wagon at Sucrerie de la Montagne before heading indoors for a sugar shack feast.
The traditional wood-fired evaporator at Sucrerie de la Montagne with vice-president Stefan Faucher, son of founder Pierre Faucher.
Then it’s a feast from one of five traditional menus, like the Festin du temps des sucres, in a 350-seat reception hall or a private room with live music. Available year-round, you can gorge on pea soup, sugar-cured country ham, meat pie and more, but don’t skip on dessert and the seemingly curious practice of topping a thin pancake with a slice of sugar pie and maple syrup. The combination is not at all sweet and the variation of carbohydrates is strangely well balanced and addictive.
The large 350-seat main hall at Sucrerie de la Montagne offers both lunch and dinner sugar shack experiences year-round.
The Festin du temps des sucres menu at Sucrerie de la Montagne features a large spread of French Canadian sugar shack classics.
Try the oddly not-too-sweet combination of maple syrup with sugar pie on pancakes at Sucrerie de la Montagne.
Facing the hillside of Mont Riguard is Auberge des Gallant, a four-star countryside inn with a leisure centre and spa, which has been welcoming guests for more than 50 years. The Gallant family-owned and operated getaway is now under the next generation’s management, having undergone a recent revamp that includes its restaurant, Le 1171. It’s easy to build up an appetite bird-watching, mountain biking or hiking the woodland trails on the lush property.
Auberge des Gallant is set in a maple forest. During sugaring season, visitors will see trees tapped with tubing to collect the maple sap.
Offering stunning views of its maple forest from large picture windows, this is where you’ll find contemporary bistro fare that uses seasonal local ingredients, like duck and milk-fed veal, plus maple products from its on-site sugar mill. Complimenting the menu is a wine list that’s been given a 2023 Award of Excellence by Wine Spectator.
Sucrerie des Gallant at Auberge des Gallant serves a scrumptious fried croissant that’s dipped in maple syrup that’s neither too sweet nor greasy and is absolutely delicious.
Between March and April, you can visit its sugar shack pavilion to experience all aspects of maple syrup production before feasting on a traditional sugar shack meal in a log cabin setting. Whatever you do, don’t pass on the maple syrup-dipped fried croissants. They are crisp, not too sweet and everything that a fresh croissant aspires to be.
Sucrerie des Gallant/Auberge des Gallant
1171 Chemin Saint-Henri, Sainte-Marthe, QC
aubergedesgallant.com
La Cabane du Coureur
158 Des 60 Rang, Saint-Marc-sur-Richelieu, QC
cabaneducoureur.ca/en/home
Le Coureur des Bois/Hôtel Rive Gauche
1810 Boulevard Richelieu, Beloeil, QC
hotelrivegauche.ca/en
Sucrerie de la Montagne
300 St. Georges, Rigaud, QC
sucreriedelamontagne.com/en
