Sugar shacks are popular in the northeast because of Mother Nature, basically. You see, sugar maple trees love cold winters and in order for the sap to flow in the spring, the trees need cold nights and warm sunny days, which is exactly what we have here in Québec. The sugaring off season usually occurs between late February and early March until the end of April or early May. This sweetest of traditions has been around for generations.

Interesting maple syrup facts and numbers

Fun fact: Canada produces about 75% of the world’s pure maple syrup, and Québec alone makes over 86.8% of the country’s production (72% of the world's production). In 2022, Québec’s 13300 maple producers produced 211M pounds of maple syrup. Maple syrup is local and renewable and almost half of Québec’s production is also organic. And we make the best maple syrup in the world that we export to over 60 countries.

A little maple syrup history

Let’s start with a little history lesson, shall we? Settlers observed indigenous peoples making maple sugar every spring for use as a high-caloric food that would get them through the tough winter months. With the help of their technology, the settlers improved on the primitive process of tapping maple trees and making crystallized maple sugar, which was the preferred method of conserving the precious sap (syrup was only introduced later). The sugar was then broken down into slices or blocks and melted or shaved directly over dishes. Nowadays, maple sap (also known as maple water) is collected and boiled down until it becomes syrup. It is said that the first shacks were built in the 1860s and used to organise the first “sugar parties” for city dwellers who missed the country life and maple production.

From pea soup to maple taffy, what to eat at a sugar shack

Maple is a part of every single course on a sugar shack menu, of course! Or more precisely, all the foods drowned in maple syrup! A sugar shack meal is usually consumed for brunch or lunch and is no small affair. You have to be fully prepared to indulge in a rich, delicious, maple-laden meal that will leave you feeling full and absolutely satisfied. A word of advice: put on your stretchy pants, invite some friends and pace yourself if you want to make it to the end of the meal. This is a marathon not a sprint, so eat small quantities of each dish and don’t fill up on bread.

Every cabane à sucre meal starts with a hearty bowl of soupe aux pois, or yellow pea soup flavoured with a ham hock (and maple, of course). The soup is usually followed by a myriad of traditional savoury dishes such as maple-baked ham, omelette or scrambled eggs, sausages, tourtière (Québec’s famous meat pie), fèves au lard or baked beans, creton (a pork-based pâté of sorts) and oreilles de crisse, which translates literally into “Christ’s ears” and is actually deep-fried pork rinds. All of these dishes are either cooked with maple syrup or dowsed in the golden syrup tableside. It’s actually an absolute must to drizzle syrup on everything, including your bread and butter.

The best part of a sugar shack meal are the many maple flavoured desserts

Sugar shack desserts include items such as maple sugar pie, maple donuts, pancakes and a variety of toothachingly sweet stuff. However, the best part of the whole extravaganza is definitely the tire d’érable or maple taffy. At the end of the meal, boiled and reduced maple syrup is poured on fresh snow in perfect little rows. The idea is to let the liquid syrup set a bit in the snow before rolling it around a popsicle stick and enjoying like a lollipop. Kids and adults of all ages enjoy this ritual the best and no sugar shack meal is complete without it.

Activities and entertainment, what to do, see and experience at a sugar shack

Other than eating, what is there to do at a sugar shack, you ask? Well, it depends on the sugar shack. Many shacks in Québec are family-owned and still small to medium sized, although you will find huge commercial ones as well. Some of the more traditional things to do are horse or tractor-drawn wagon or sleigh rides tours of the property and all the tapped maple trees, walks or hikes in the woods, traditional music and dancing, petting zoos, snowshoeing and spending time learning and observing the fascinating maple syrup making process. Tasting maple water is also sometimes offered. Maple water is the sap that flows from the trees. It takes 40 litres of maple water to make 1 liter of maple syrup. You can choose from a range of larger dining halls to the cozier, smaller cabins, depending on the kind of experience you are looking for and how big your group is.

Where to go for the ultimate sugar shack experience near Montreal

There are so many different kinds of sugar shacks out there that it’s sometimes hard to find one that suits your taste. Most shacks are located where the maple trees are located, obviously, so outside the city. We do have a few favourites that we can recommend from the traditional Sucrerie de la Montagne to the over-the-top Au pied de cochon, which is, unfortunately, often fully booked. For a sugaring off experience with a fresh twist, Labonté de la pomme offers the first Apple Shack in Québec, featuring local products and baked treats prepared in a wood-fired oven. This family-run orchard in Oka, about a 45-minute drive from Montréal, offers lots of family activities year-round and a general store where you can pick up gourmet gifts. The Apple Shack is open for sugaring-off time in March and April, and for other events and occasions throughout the year.

If you can’t get out of the city come early spring, several urban sugar shacks spring up all around Montréal every year to satisfy that maple craving after a long winter. Some restaurants also choose to include a maple breakfast or brunch or a sugar shack-inspired meal on their menu in the spring. You can even purchase or have order a sugar shack meal in a box through delivery from certain shacks and/or restaurants. Whatever you decide, make sure you book ahead. This most-beloved gargantuan gastronomic experience is only around for a few weeks every year, from late February to April, and shacks everywhere sell out quickly.

Bon appétit!