Have you ever had the pleasure of dining at an authentic sugar shack? My family and I experienced the deliciousness of a full sugar shack meal at the Érablière Charbonneau in Mont-Saint-Grégoire, Quebec. In this post, I share our experience at the Charbonneau Sugar Shack and give you some details on the sugaring off process.
If you have the misfortune of living in an area where the winters are blistering and the cold season seems never-ending, there is one thing that can put you in a great mood. Sugar. More specifically, the natural sugar of our beautiful maple trees. Maple trees are bountiful in our province of Quebec and lucky for us, they produce the most amazing maple syrup in the February to April months. Canada creates the largest production of pure maple syrup in the world. Accounting for over 70% of global production, Quebec is the primary source in Canada for that delicious, sweet liquid.
Wherever you are in the world, then, you most likely can find pure maple syrup. But how is it produced? Why is it so precious? Is anything added to the liquid? And what is it like to experience a full meal centered around maple syrup? Let me share our experience.
Owners Mélanie and Alexandre opened Érablière Charbonneau in 2006, but as Mélanie explained, their history of producing maple syrup and working in sugar shacks runs deep. Mélanie’s father, Denis Charbonneau was one of the grandsons of Omer Brodeur, a pioneer at Mont Saint-Grégoire in the field of sugar shacks. As soon as I met Mélanie, I could feel her passion and pride for her work. She greeted us with a smile and showed us around. We were brought into the main dining room, and it was warm and inviting. It is such a cozy ambiance for a dinner.
What a Feast!
To enjoy a meal with family and friends at a sugar shack is a real treat. Usually, tables are set for a large group, but in the dining rooms at Érablière Charbonneau, there were also tables for two, which I thought was lovely as well. The meal was served to us by our awesome waiter, who explained all the food and was ready to serve us more of everything should we wish. The meal is served “a volonté” which is French for ‘all you can eat’. The meal is a massive menu of homemade dishes and we tried absolutely everything.
We began with a tasting of refreshing maple drinks and maple wines. Because they specialize in drinks as well, we were offered to come back for a more robust tasting for the different wines and ciders. Each of my boys had difference sparkling fruit drinks, which is great for kids and for adults who refrain from alcoholic drinks.
Our first course was fresh buns with pea soup. Now, I’ve had a lot of different varieties of pea soup in my life. I knew when I was going to write this review, how important it was to tell you, friends, that this pea soup was excellent. I wanted more of the pea soup, but I knew there was so much more to come, so I refrained. But I have dreamed about the pea soup a few times since our visit, and I will come back just for that alone.
Next, we had a collection of pickled vegetables, all prepared in-house, and the full meal followed with coleslaw, baked omelet and ham, maple sausages, baked beans, pork rinds and grilled bacon, fried potatoes, mini meat pies, and meatballs. It was a full feast with a variety of delicacies. Everyone in my family had a different favourite, mine were the beaked beans and mini meat pies.
Dessert came right after, and I wish I had room for more. We managed to do the difficult task of trying everything (best task ever). My favourite was the maple sugar pie, which to me was surprising because I never enjoyed the taste of a sugar pie. However, their pie has the right consistency of smooth and sweet and one slice was just enough for my sweet tooth. But I would have loved to leave with a whole pie for the next day!
Other sweets for dessert included maple pastries and donuts, buckwheat galettes and small pancakes, with, of course maple syrup as well as maple coulis! I really enjoyed the galettes too and I poured the creamy maple coulis on them. Divine!
After a coffee and a walk around the property, we headed for the special separate building where the maple syrup was being boiled. There, we had the delicious maple taffy.
What is Tire sur la Neige?
Tire sur la neige is truly Canadian. If you don’t have snow where you live, you have to come and visit Canada to experience this truly special dessert. Maple syrup is heated at just the right temperature, and then poured on fresh, packed snow. After a couple of seconds the maple syrup becomes a taffy. You pick up the taffy with a wooden popsicle stick and it is a little taste of heaven. There’s nothing else like it!
That was our final stop of the evening, enjoying some maple taffy – what a finale!
Fun and Delicious Experience for Families
Since our boys were little, we always took them to a sugar shack in our area in the daytime, or late afternoon either with friends or family. This was the first time we experienced a dinner with them. It was perfect for many reasons. First, they eat loads more now and an all-you-can-eat meal is a dream for them. Second, it is a different feeling going at night. Our boys stay up later now, and so our evenings are longer. We stayed at the sugar shack talking and hanging out until closing time, and we enjoyed the drive back home…it was special.
Can you experience a sugar shack meal as a vegetarian?
I should have told Mélanie that one of my son’s is vegetarian. He did have some choices, but because the nature of the meal has pork in almost everything, he passed on some staple parts of the meal. That said, the menu at Érablière Charbonneau does have vegetarian options (veggie chilli, etc.) so if are vegetarian or plan to visit with someone who is vegetarian, let them know ahead of time. For other dietary restrictions, you can read their full description here of what you can eat depending on your needs. There really is something for everyone.
Can you bring food home?
Yes! Pretty much everything we ate and drank was available to bring home, with additional options such as breads, maple popcorn and candies.
They also offer the full traditional sugar shack meal to go, should you wish to pick up and eat a home.
The price per person is $44.95 for adults 16 and over. Priced decrease for different age categories, and children 2 years old and under are free. The Érablière Charbonneau is open until the end of April and reservations are highly recommended.
We left with some gifted goodies!
The Maple Syrup Process
So, just what is involved in making maple syrup? Well, at Érablière Charbonneau they have 4000 taps on their maple trees working hard and collecting the maple water each season. After that, the water is placed in a boiler and the water gets evaporated down to approximately 1/40th of what is collected, creating the maple syrup we love.
Approximately every 40 liters of maple water, boil down to just one liter of maple syrup. The time required to create the syrup depends on the machinery you have to boil the water. But it is a very long process, hours and hours of waiting for the delicious syrup to form. With this knowledge, it’s easy to see why pure maple syrup is very special.
Finale Thoughts
I am so grateful to Mélanie for inviting us to experience her fantastic sugar shack and I know we will be back at Érablière Charbonneau for more deliciousness with friends and family. I highly recommend visiting during this season. It truly is a wonderful experience.
Merci, Mélanie!!
Disclosure: My family was gifted this meal and experience. I was not asked to write a review, I just really wanted to let you all know about it.