Self isolation have you missing cabane à sucre? You don’t have to miss out, make your own cabane à sucre at home and enjoy all the tasty maple treats.
History of Cabane à Sucre
Cabane à Sucre or ‘Sugar Shacks’ are exactly what the name states. They originated as small shacks where sap was collected from maple trees and boiled into maple sugar. Historically they have been around since indigenous peoples and early European settlers founded the continent. The indigenous peoples of eastern Canada taught the French settlers how to collect maple sap and turn it into the rich tasty syrup. Syrup was originally produced for trade or sale, personal use and in many instances as medicine.
Today, Canada’s cold winters make it an ideal place for maple production. The cold nights and warm sunny days of spring make it perfect for the maple sap to flow. It’s so ideal Canada now produces around 80% of the world’s pure maple syrup. Of which, Quebec alone makes up over 90% of that production!
Sugar Shacks are not just a fun place where they make maple syrup. The wooden shacks, checkered tablecloths, folk music and horse-drawn sleigh rides make the experience unique. The traditional dishes and rustic charm make it a springtime outing that Quebec families look forward to after a long winter.
One thing that makes the Cabane à Sucre experience so popular is that it is highly focused around food. The menus were created based off their main purpose: maple syrup. In the beginning it was a celebration of all the family members and friends who came together to celebrate the completion of collecting and canning the maple syrup for sale. This later developed into a meal as a way to use a surplus of maple syrup.
Cabane à Sucre today
In Quebec Sugaring off and the sweet treats that go along with it is a Quebec tradition! With the current world situation of COVID-19, many larger festivals and restaurants are all shut down. Don’t worry. If you can’t get out to a Sugar Shack, why not bring the Sugar Shack to you!
You might not have the live music and dancing, but you can do some fun maple syrup activities to learn about the process.
Let’s begin with the food. And there is so much food, it’s hard to decide where to begin. Other than lots of good Quebec maple syrup, there are a few essentials you need to recreate an authentic ‘cabane à sucre’ experience at home. Remember this is a ‘brunch-style’ meal so a lot of the foods are breakfasty.
Her is all you need to do a Sugar Shack at home!
MAPLE SYRUP!
Maple syrup is the whole purpose of ‘sugaring off’ process. It’s not just that it’s tasty to eat and fun to put on pancakes, it’s crucial to all the food. We mean ALL. It’s on the table for you to add more, but also everything is cooked in, doused and marinated in maple syrup. Including everything on the list below, so make sure you have a few cans. This spring while in self-isolation we tapped some trees and made our own maple syrup, but you can buy it from the store or amazon.
Split Pea Soup
Every cabane à sucre starts with a bowl of split pea soup flavored with ham hock and smothered in maple syrup. Seasons and Suppers has a great Quebec-style Split Pea Soup recipe. Don’t forget to drizzle more maple syrup on top before you eat it.
Maple Glazed Ham
One of my favorite Quebec Chefs is Ricardo. His recipes are simple to follow and use everyday ingredients. It helps that he is from Quebec and has a great take on most Quebec foods that doesn’t require a cooking degree to make. Here is his maple baked ham recipe.
Whipped eggs with maple syrup
Eggs can vary from place to place. But they are all cooked with or drowned in maple syrup. The more traditional places have uber light and whipped into a souflee eggs with maple syrup. My French Canadian Year has a great maple souflee eggs recipe.
Maple-Glazed Sausages
Maple sausages are my kids FAVORITE at cabane à sucre. Lafleur has a great and easy maple-glazed sausage recipe.
If you are looking for an even easier recipe, you can just add a jar of VH mild garlic sauce and maple syrup as a marinade.
Best-Ever Pancakes
Pancakes are something else that you may not find at every cabane à sucre, but they are a favorite with little kids. My son’s pancake recipe is easy enough the kids can help make them. If you want the ‘Quebec’ version, add a bit of extra water/milk and make thinner ‘crêpes’.
Homemade Quebec Maple Baked Beans
Since my daughter is a vegetarian, she loves baked beans and we love they are full of protein and fiber. Baked beans, or ‘fèves au lard’ as they are known in Quebec, are great as breakfast, but also as lunch or supper. They are versatile and you can add bacon, tomatoes or whatever flavor you’d like. For our vegetarian we make them plain and serve with homemade bread.
She Loves Biscotti has a great maple baked beans recipe. One thing I like about her site is that if you have never made baked beans before she gives you lots of hints on how to make them.
Of course, Ricardo has a great slow cooker maple baked beans recipe too.
Fried Pork Rinds
This was one of the most unique foods I had the first time I went to a cabane à sucre. ‘Oreilles de crisse’, which translates literally into “Christ’s ears” is deep-fried pork rinds. Years ago when I first went I thought it was a weird thing to eat. But today with the keto obsession, it’s probably one of their most popular items for keto fans. If you are living a keto lifestyle, this is the pork rinds recipe for you.
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Now for everyone’s favorite part… dessert!
Poudding chômeur (Poor man’s pudding)
Poudding chômeur got it’s name of ‘poor man’s pudding’ when it became a popular dessert during the depression era. It’s served warm and make sure you top it with vanilla ice cream. .Smitten Kitchen has a great pudding Chomeur recipe with step-by-step photos.
Sucre a la crème (sugar fudge)
Sucre à la crème is a traditional French Canadian fudge made with … you guessed it… maple syrup! It’s not your traditional chocolate fudge. Sucre a la crème is smooth and creamy and tastes like caramel. Best of all, it’s easy to make and has a long shelf life. In fact, it’s best to let it sit on the counter for 2 days (covered) for best flavor!
Sugar Pie (Tarte au sucre)
Sugar pie or ‘tarte au sucre’, is easy to make and best served in slim wedges with a dollop of whipped cream or a vanilla ice cream. Of course Ricardo has a sugar pie recipe, but check out A Canadian Foodies recipe too.
Maple Taffy
The absolute favorite dessert, is not just a dessert, but an activity. Maple Taffy or ‘tire d’érable’ in French, will quickly become your family’s favorite. Basically, you make your own maple taffy by cooking maple syrup until it thickens and then pour it over ice. While it’s still warm but has set up a bit from the ice, you use a popsicle stick to rollup the taffy into a lollipop-style dessert. Canadian Living has a maple taffy recipe. But again, I go back to Ricardo for his maple taffy on snow recipe which includes a video, making it even easier to make maple taffy in your home any time of year.
If you are not into cooking, check out some of there cabane à sucres north of Montreal that are delivering to your home.
Activities
Normally when you go to a sugar shack there is horse or tractor-drawn wagon rides on the property. You get to see all the trees being tapped and walk or hike in the woods. Many have petting zoos, traditional music and dancing all while you can learn and observe the maple syrup making process.
Some of the things you can to make it ‘feel’ more like a cabane à sucre is the atmosphere. Grab yourself a red and white checkered tablecloth and turn up the music and dance around the living room. Try this Youtube play list of cabane à sucre music.
Not in the mood to cook? Get your cabane à sucre delivered!
Anything missing that you’d want at a cabane à suce at home? Let us know below.
