I don’t care if it aligns nearly too much with Canadian stereotypes, maple syrup season in Ontario and Quebec is amazing (eh). Festivals, candy, events, jams, spices, fudge, pancake houses, taffy, hay rides; all devoted to the glorious sticky sweet stuff. Forget candy stores, I’d rather be at a sugar bush (a sugar maple tree operation) enjoying a pancake breakfast and some freshly made taffy.
My mom and I were in Ottawa visiting relatives near the end of March, so we made sure to visit a sugar bush. There was a gift shop full of maple-everything, the pancake house (with delicious breakfast and an endless supply of maple syrup, plus maple mustard too), a taffy stand (they pour syrup onto clean snow, then wrap a popsicle stick in it and ta-da! Sticky, sugary goodness on a stick), and a wide array of activities.
Most of us have probably had maple syrup before (I’m talking about the genuine stuff – no Aunt Jemima’s here), but experiencing maple syrup is another thing. During the maple season, plenty of sugar bushes are open for visitors, and that often includes being able to see where/how they process the maple tree sap, and of course, the maple trees themselves. I went on a short walk through the forest with my uncle and cousin at the sugar bush we were at, and we could see the taps and pipes set up to bring the sap to where it was processed.
I should probably end off here, but I’ll leave you with one last thing: go have some (***real) maple syrup.
The sugar bush I went to was Fulton’s.
