A trip to Canada to the Sucrerie de La Montagne for a super interesting experience through maple syrup, its preparation and a stay at a magnificent Cabane in Sucre, read here.
You can't think of programming a trip to Canada, particularly in the region of Quebec, without including a visit to one of the many Cabane in Sucre. In fact, this term identifies the typical farms where the extraction and refining of the delicious maple syrup takes place, one of the symbolic products of this country so much so that the maple leaf is even present in its flag.
Yes, because Canada is the first producer in the world and of this I can assure you that they are really proud of it: in every place you go, in every shop you visit you will not fail to find it.
There are many cabanas that can be visited. But if you are around Montreal, one of these places that you absolutely must not miss is the Sucrerie de La Montagne. Located in the middle of the Quebec forests, in the small town of Rigaud, it takes just over an hour by car to reach it from the metropolis.
Once you arrive you will feel like you have arrived in an enchanted place that you only read in White Fang adventure novels. Here, in some respects time seems to have really stopped, a sort of small village made up of small wooden houses and other structures similar to mountain chalets: welcome to the Sucrerie de la Montagne! And if you are welcomed by the owner Pierre with his long and thick beard, well at that point you will believe that you have really ended up in a special place of other times where only some elf is missing.
La Sucrerie de la Montagne is the perfect place to learn all about the Maple syrup. Open all year round, certainly the best time to experience it is from the end of February to the end of April, when you begin to collect the precious nectar. In one whitewashed postcard scenery from the snow, this is the moment in which the whole Cabane is at its peak and where you can breathe a festive atmosphere given by the joy of the harvest. A moment long awaited by everyone and that every year is experienced with great intensity so as to involve the entire town of Rigaud given the number of people who are employed in the activity.
But any time of the year at the Sucrerie de la Montagne is still good for a stop in addition to the fact that it is also possible to stay there, an experience definitely worth living: they are three houses for guests, one more beautiful than the other. All in wood, complete with every comfort, they maintain the style and details of the tradition of the huts complete with cast iron stoves to heat them, wool blankets, rocking chairs, in short, do you know when we say "a small house in Canada"? Here, these are the perfect representation. In main structure instead there is the restaurant, the true heart of the cabane, able to welcome all the people who arrive from all over the world. As soon as you pass the small entrance door, you are literally projected inside a splendid chalet also completely made of wood: many many details that embellish it and furnish it with objects from the past, old tools or tools used for life in the forest. The photos and newspaper articles hanging on the walls will make you travel through Pierre's long history, making this place even more fascinating.
Il restaurant it is divided into several areas. The larger one is also a sort of ballroom, where long wooden tables with benches on which to sit and mix for lunch or dinner with the other guests dominate. Yes, because here the philosophy is that every moment you live must be a moment of celebration: in fact, one or more musicians or singers will never fail to accompany your lunch or dinner by involving you in songs and traditional Quebec dances.
Needless to say that in the menu the main ingredient is maple syrup: we start with the inevitable soup from Pierre's mother's secret recipe and continue with tastings of meats and other dishes made according to Pierre's own recipes, all rigorously sprinkled with maple syrup. And if what has already been placed on the plates is not enough, at your disposal on the table you will have a whole bottle of syrup to further flood your dishes. I assure you that you will not be able to resist and that bottle you will use it several times.
Outside, they complete the "village" store where you can stock up on delicious maple syrup or other derivative products, and obviously the hut dedicated to the processing and refining of maple sap: here you will be explained all the steps and processes followed to make the syrup. Pierre is considered one of the greatest masters in production, also because he still follows traditional methods such as the use of a wood fire.
Sleeping or stopping for a lunch or dinner at the Sucrerie really has very low costs: in low season, half board is around 135 Canadian dollars, or about 90 euros per person. One more reason to stop in this place.
