Press-Republican

Local News

Related Photos

  • P-R Photo/Jacob Resneck

    images_sizedimage_097051707

  • P-R Photo/Jacob Resneck

    images_sizedimage_097051724

Discussion

PLEASE NOTE: There is a 150 word maximum for comments. All comments greater than 150 words in length will be deleted in their entirety.

ALSO NOTE: Derisive name-calling of an individual or group will result in the entire comment being deleted. This includes the terms "stupid" and "idiot" and similar references.

Welcome to our new online comments feature. Before you can join the discussion, you must first register with Disqus and verify your email address.

Once you do, your comments will post after they have been reviewed by a moderator.

We welcome your thoughts and your opinions, including unpopular ones. We ask only that you keep the conversation civil and clean.

Not all comments are deemed printable. Some are disqualified, at the newspaper’s discretion, for a number of reasons. Here are some typical practices to avoid in trying to get your comment printed:

There is a 150 word maximum for comments. All comments greater than 150 words in length will be deleted in their entirety.

Don’t state as a fact something that is unsubstantiated or that our editors wouldn't know to be true.

Don’t presume someone’s guilt in a case when it hasn't been established by a court.

Don’t assail or impugn an identifiable individual or group. If you have that kind of criticism, sign your name and submit it as a Letter to the Editor. (There is some leeway on this in connection with public officials, but it is not unconditional.)

Don’t use profanity. This includes the term “tea bagger.”

Don’t be incendiary or tasteless. Those qualities are subjective, of course, and our editors will be the arbiters.

Do not identify yourself in the main content area of the article content form. Only by enforcing this rule can the moderators prevent unscrupulous commenters from falsely identifying themselves as someone they are not.

Don't type in all caps. It is considered the Internet equivalent of shouting.

In sports articles, do not criticize officiating.

Remember, moderators are not allowed to edit any article comments. If an article comment fails any of the above criteria, the entire comment will be deleted.

We monitor comments Monday - Friday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. Approval of comments outside these times may be delayed.
comments powered by Disqus
April 6, 2008

DAY AWAY: Quebec sugar shacks worth sampling

By JACOB RESNECK

SAINT-CHRYSOTOME, Qué. -- The wedge of land between Montreal and the North Country is Québec's Montérégie region, one of the largest maple-producing regions in the province, which produces most of the world's maple sugar.

Along the narrow, twisting and uneven roads through the farm country of the Upper St. Lawrence River Valley lie many cabanes à sucre -- literally sugar shacks -- that offer home-cooked meals in a unique tradition that's still relatively obscure to many Americans.

For those who enjoy drizzling syrup over their bacon, ham and sausage at breakfast, these sugar shacks are a little bit of heaven. Québecers travel far and wide to enjoy a traditional sugar-shack meal that inevitably involves meats, vegetables and the maple products produced either on that very farm or from around the immediate region.

One popular eatery and syrup producer is L'Hermine in the township of Havelock, less than 40 miles northwest of Plattsburgh. The Ouimet family's restaurant serves about 10,000 people during the two-month maple season.

"This is a family business," said 40-year-old Chantal Ouimet, who runs the operation with her two sisters. On a Sunday afternoon, the dining room is a bustle as cooks and servers rush about with steaming platters of ham, omelettes cooked in syrup, baked beans and, of course, pancakes and maple-syrup pie for dessert. This frenetic pace will continue until the end of April, when the restaurant shuts down for the season.

Fewer than 5 percent of the restaurant's patrons come from the United States, Ouimet said, but those who do seem to appreciate the hearty food.

Outside, a llama and goat stand in a small enclosed paddock as children swarm about in the cold sunshine. A wagon is hitched to two horses ready to take another gaggle of visitors for a brief ride through the maple forest.

About a mile up the road is the 75-acre sugar shack owned and run by Roger Ouimet, a distant cousin. It's an industry that's weather dependent, and this year has been a short season for sap, said Yvon Faille, who is in charge of syrup production. Still, the operation averages about 3,000 gallons a year.

Like many farms in the region, the acres here also graze dairy cattle, and there are apple orchards on a nearby ridge.

On a recent weekend, the horse and sleigh were hitched up, ready to take visitors into the woods to see the taps that are connected by a maze of blue tubing that zigzags across the property. Nestled in the woods is a century-old cabane á sucre, long abandoned, in which Roger Ouimet, now in his 70s, once labored with his father.

"It's been a tradition here for years and years," Faille said.

As most sugar shacks are family owned and operated, each one has its own quirks and idiosyncrasies. As part of the price of the meal -- generally not more than $20 Canadian per person -- a short ride on a sleigh pulled by draft horses is often included.

Despite the individual eccentricities of each sugar shack, most have at least this in common: Seating is at long wooden tables. The meal is served in courses, usually beginning with ham and split pea soup. Those white squares in the soup probably aren't potatoes -- more likely they're morsels of pork fat. Next come the beans, flavored with cured ham and maple sugar. Bacon, smoked ham and omelettes follow perhaps a vegetables or two.

Don't neglect the condiments on the table. There are usually homemade sweet pickles, pickled beets and onions in mason jars as well as traditional ketchup that looks -- but doesn't taste like -- Mexican salsa.

After you've stuffed yourself with the main course, it's time for the first round of dessert. Maple-syrup pie, silver-dollar pancakes -- with yet more syrup -- follow.

After emerging from the meal into the blinding sunlight, the eating isn't over. Maple taffy -- tire in Québec -- is served. After boiling maple sap longer than for normal syrup (but not so long that it turns to butter or sugar), the dark liquid is poured on snow in dollops that are eaten off a wooden stick.

While residents of the North Country are blessed with their own maple-syrup heritage and industry that are certainly on par with their neighbors to the north, it's worthwhile to venture northward and experience the food and hospitality of traditional cabanes à sucre.

GETTING THERE
The official Quebec tourism Web site lists sugar shacks: www.bonjourquebec.com/qc-en/erablieres0.html.
There are literally scores in the Monteregie region, a wedge of territory between Montreal and New York's North Country: www.tourisme-monteregie.qc.ca/index_en.html.
Fortunately, the smaller border crossings that act as gateways to the Monteregie region don't see delays anywhere near what is experienced at the main Champlain-Lacolle crossing at Interstate-87/Autoroute-15.
Crossing into Canada remains relatively uncomplicated, though United States customs now requests that you carry proof of citizenship (such as a birth certificate or a passport) when you return. At the moment, guards at the border admit they aren't turning anyone away who has at least a valid photo ID.

Text Only | Photo Reprints
Local News

Recent Article Comments
Albany Round-up

Photo of the Day
Strange News
Videos: Editor Picks
Obama Scraps Birth Control Mandate US Airmen's Killer Sentenced to Life in Germany Navy Names Ship for Gabrielle Giffords Raw Video: Deadly Blasts in Syria Romney Slams President Obama at CPAC Gingrich: Pres. Obama 'waging War on Religion' 5 Killed in Wrong-way Crash on I-10 in La. Uzbek Man Pleads Guilty in Plot to Kill Obama Denver's Largest-Ever Drug Bust Nets Dozens Marines: No Punishment for Nazi-like Flag Vets Look to Translate Military Skills Into Jobs Raw Video: School Bus Burst Into Flames LA School Reopens Amid Sex Abuse Scandal $25B Settlement Reached Over Foreclosure Abuses Pentagon: Allow Women Closer to Front Lines LA School in Sex Abuse Scandal Reopens Raw Video: Italy's Mount Etna Bursts Into Life Greeks March; Angry Despite Debt Deal Air Force Airlines: Leaders Get Polished Service Ga Girl Fights Off Kidnapper at Walmart