Sweet Canadian Moments 2012

Maple Syrup and Springtime in Canada are synonymous for many of us. My mother, an adventurous foodie before foodie was even a word, used to actually tap the maple trees outside our home in Northern Ontario. Then the kitchen would be filled with maple perfumed steam for hours on end. The result was always very small in quantity but big in flavour. We would savour it, the more because it was so labour intensive to produce, poured on pancakes with sausages and bacon. That maple fog that filled the house remains one of my favourite childhood sensory memories.

It isn’t necessary to go through the hard work of maple syrup making to enjoy the sweet rewards, however. Spring in Burlington offers several opportunities to enjoy the pleasures of maple syrup without all the work.

Bronte Creek Provincial Park

At Bronte Creek Provincial Park, Fresh Ontario Maple Syrup will be yours to savour every weekend in March. At Bronte Creek, the costumed interpreters will demonstrate how to tap the trees, and how to make maple syrup and maple sugar.

During the Maple Syrup Festival, a wagon will take visitors to a heated pancake shack for fresh pancakes, sausages and, of course, maple syrup. It’s a great opportunity to enjoy the outdoors while learning a little history, and to taste a bit of our most delicious heritage.

The maple syrup festivities are open to the public from 9:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. every weekend in March. For more information call 905-827-6911 or visit their website.

Maple Festivities at Mountsberg’s Maple Towne

Maple Towne at Mountsberg presents a delicious celebration of our national spring obsession, with a traditional sugar shack, steaming kettles of boiling sap, and tasty treats to sample. You can savour pancakes, with maple syrup, naturally, in an outdoor pavilion.

Visitors learn about the process and history of maple syrup and gain an insight into the life of our ancestors through displays and demonstrations, and can also experience an authentic horse drawn wagon ride through the sugar bush. In addition to the maple syrup activities, there are visits to the play barn and demonstrations of amazing birds of prey at the nearby Raptor Centre. Or take a leisurely hike along the Wildlife Walkway where you may come face to face with an owl or hawk.

Sweet Water Season at Crawford Lake

At Crawford Lake, you’ll see how native peoples produced ‘sweet water’ or maple syrup. On guided hikes, you’ll learn how maple trees were tapped and you’ll get to sample delicious cornbread dipped in fresh maple syrup. Afterwards you can tour the restored 15^th century Iroquois village and its longhouses, then make crafts, watch a video presentation or enjoy walks along the boardwalk that circles Crawford Lake or along the many hiking trails.

Maple Towne at Mountsberg and the Sweet Water Season at Crawford Lake take place weekends to April 9, 2012 on weekends and holidays.

(Hint: Maple Syrup is very popular! There are always line-ups to get in to these activities, especially during March Break. My suggestion is to be there when the doors open at 10 am. Check the website for times, dates and admission prices.)

A Brief History of Maple Syrup

When you visit Mountsberg or Crawford Lake or Bronte Creek for the Maple Syrup Festivals, you will be participating in an activity that has been central to culinary life since, some say, before recorded history.  Native peoples knew the qualities of maple sap, even if they did not have the iron pots for concentrating the sap into syrup. They would use it as a sweet drink or a hot tea.

Early settlers, with their wooden buckets and iron pots, developed techniques for concentrating the sap. After that, maple syrup and maple sugar became staples that could be found on every table during the 17^th and 18^th centuries when other sugars were in short supply. And the sugar shack became an important gathering place in springtime. Here, great clouds of maple steam made the shack toasty warm, and if you were lucky you could try out the syrup, or enjoy the ‘taffy’ formed when the hot thick syrup was poured on snow.

Everything’s better with a Little Maple Syrup!

Pick up a bottle of this year’s vintage of maple syrup from the gift shops at Mountsberg and Crawford Lake and use it generously. Here are a few suggestions for adding maple syrup to your cooking:

·         Pour it, of course, on pancakes, french toast and waffles but don’t forget to put a bit on the bacon during the last few minutes of cooking.  It gives a sweet glaze to the bacon that is irresistible.

·         Add maple syrup to softened butter, mix and chill.  Serve the maple butter on sweet rolls or raisin bread.

·         Sweeten your apple sauce with maple syrup instead of white sugar.

·         Use it to sweeten your tea or coffee.

·         Add it to baked beans.

·         Glaze squash, sweet potatoes or carrots with some maple syrup.

·         Pour over ice cream for an easy and delicious dessert.

·         Serve it with corn fritters.

·         Sprinkle maple sugar on top of your grapefruit.

·         Drizzle maple syrup or maple sugar on top of hot oatmeal.

Be creative! Maple syrup partners well with many dishes.  And it’s good for you. While it has the same number of calories as white sugar or other sweeteners, maple syrup contains iron, calcium and thiamin.

Maple Syrup and Royalty

In a recent exposé posted by a sneaky reporter who posed as a footman and gained access to Buckingham Palace, it was revealed that, on the breakfast table shared by the Queen and Prince Philip, was a silver jug full of Canadian maple syrup.

In fact, the top maple syrup producers have been sending cases of maple syrup to Buckingham Palace for decades, to please the royal sweet tooth. And a truffle maker in Fredericton last year shipped his popular maple flavoured truffles, in a specially designed maple box, to the Queen. Rumour has it that Canadian maple syrup will be on the menu for the wedding breakfast for Kate and William that Queen Elizabeth will be hosting for the couple and their closest friends.

Classic Facts about Maple Syrup

·         It takes 30-50 gallons of sap to make one gallon of maple syrup .

·         Maple syrup can be concentrated further to produce maple cream, maple sugar, and maple candy.

·         A gallon of maple syrup weighs 11 pounds

·         Usually a maple tree is at least 30 years old and 12 inches in diameter before it is tapped.

·         As the tree increases in diameter, more taps can be added to a maximum of four taps.

·         Tapping does no permanent damage and only 10 percent of the sap is collected each year.

·         Many maple trees have been tapped for 150 or more years.

·         Each tap will yield an average of 10 gallons of sap per season, producing about one quart of syrup.

·         The maple season may last eight to 10 weeks, but sap flow is heaviest for about 10-20 days in the early spring.

·         Maple syrup comes in different grades:

o   "fancy" grade - is the lightest coloured

o   "commercial" grade is the best syrup to use in cooking because it is rich in flavour

© Barbara Ramsay Orr – @Orracle, guest blogger

Barbara Ramsay Orr is a freelance journalist, author of the Frommer's Guide to the Niagara Region, third edition (2010), Day Trips from Toronto for Globe Pequot and a lifetime resident of Ontario. Her work has appeared in many national and international publications, including Chatelaine, Canadian Living, The Globe and mail and Readers Digest. She is the Local Expert on Niagara Falls, Niagara-on-the-Lake and Wine Country for Nile Guides, and is launching a travel app for Niagara Falls and on International Wine and Food Festivals. She has been the food writer for Hamilton Magazine for more years than she wishes to admit. You can follow heradventures, tune in to her tweets @Orracle, or visit her Niagara Falls andNiagara-on-the-Lake Blogs. 

History comes alive in Burlington!

Family and tradition are two of the most important elements of our holiday celebrations, and Burlington is rich in both family fun and local heritage.  Bronte Creek Provincial Park and Ireland House are just two attractions that combine history and family-centred activities all year long, but the message is somehow more poignant during Christmas.

Bronte Creek

There are winter activities every day at Bronte Creek over the holidays, with the exception of Christmas day when the park is closed.

Homestead Christmas

How was Christmas celebrated in Victorian times?  Was it very different from our modern traditions?  Visitors can discover what a Victorian Christmas was like by a visit to Spruce Farm.  It’s surprising to discover that, while décor and the home comforts of the Victorians may have been different, the basics were the same – they played games, shared good food and music and enjoyed the closeness of family, just as we do.  A visit here is a visit to another time and guests get the chance to dress in Victorian costumes and children can sit on the knee of a Victorian Santa, without the commercial bustle of a visit to the Santa in the Mall.  There are crafts and stories too, and light refreshments.  Homestead Christmas activities are offered this Saturday and Sunday, plus December 20-23rd from 10am -3pm.  Call 905-827-6911 ext. 228 to make a reservation.

Howl in the New Year

If you are looking for a way to usher in the 2011 in a unique way, Bronte Creek has just what you want.  Howl n’Hikes, on Dec. 31^st gives families an opportunity to share the wonders of the park at this momentous time of the year, and to gather around a blazing bonfire for an early countdown.  Guides will take you on an evening hike and teach you how to howl like a coyote.  Chances are pretty good that one of the park’s coyotes will howl back.  Then at 8:30, there’s a New Year’s countdown around the bonfire.  There’s no fee for this alcohol-free event.

The Skating Rink

The weather has been perfect for ice formation, and the rink at Bronte Creek is just begging to be skated upon.

The rink will offer extended hours on New Years Eve, 9:30am - 12:30am and the Park Store will serve up hot food and non-alcoholic beverages. The store also offers skate rentals for both children and adults.

The Play Barn and Farm Animals

Calves and piglets, ducks and chickens – they’re settled down indoors in their stalls for the winter, but visitors can still watch them through the viewing windows.  The play barn is open daily, with slides and climbing activities for children ten and under. The hardier grown-up cows are out in the pen, sporting a thick coat and enjoying the fresh air.  It’s good natural fun for the holidays – not a TV screen in sight.

Enjoy the Park in Winter – Skiing, Geo-caching, Hiking

The park is still well populated with animals in the winter – including white-tailed deer, red fox, coyote and raccoon. Birds you may see in the park include the blue jay, blackbird, red-tailed hawk and several kinds of sparrows, as well as the occasional pileated and red-headed woodpecker, scarlet tanager, turkey vulture and both snowy and short-eared owls.  There’s a tobogganing hill, and the trails are perfect for cross country skiing.  The Park has a heated change area and sheltered picnic areas. So pull on your parka, get out your heavy mittens and head out to the park for a real life adventure this season.  For more information visit the website.

Ireland House

One family left their imprint on Burlington over many years and you can witness the family story of the Irelands with a visit to their well preserved Georgian home just off Guelph Line.

Santa

On Sunday, Dec 19, enjoy a visit to Santa's Cabin to see Mr. and Mrs. Claus, have a tour of the Ireland House and visit the Candy Shop.  There will be crafts to do, baking and treats in the traditional kitchen and lots of history to digest.  If you’ve seen enough of Santa, the house itself is a joy to see, with each room decorated for a Christmas holiday and the table set with the best china.

Christmas Camp Party

On Dec 22, Ireland House hosts a day camp for kids from 5 to 10 years of age, from 10 am to 3 pm.  It’s a bargain - $15 for one child, and $10 each for siblings. Children will bake in the open hearth oven and decorate Christmas cookies, make a historic toy, and enjoy holiday themed activities along with the interpreters and Santa.

Gift Shop

In the gift shop in the Interpretive Centre at Ireland House, you’ll find some really different Christmas items, - books, Victorian style ornaments and toys. 

Become a Member

Membership brings you free admission, discounts on programs and events and a personal investment in this heritage project.  By becoming a member, you become part of this important initiative to preserve the story of the Ireland family and of early Burlington history.  Visit their website for more information.

There’s so many ways to keep warm in Burlington this holiday season, both indoors and outdoors.  Take the family out for a bit of fresh air and exercise, and get to know your home town in the process.

For the holidays, you can’t beat home, sweet home.

Guest Blogger: © Barbara Ramsay Orr   

Barbara Ramsay Orr is a freelance journalist, author of the Frommer's Guide to the Niagara Region, third edition (2010), Day Trips from Toronto for Globe Pequot and a lifetime resident of Ontario. Her work has appeared in many national and international publications, including Chatelaine, Canadian Living, The Globe and mail and Readers Digest. She is the Local Expert on Niagara Falls, Niagara-on-the-Lake and Wine Country for Nile Guides, and is launching a travel app for Niagara Falls and on International Wine and Food Festivals. She has been the food writer for Hamilton Magazine for more years than she wishes to admit. You can follow heradventures, tune in to her tweets @Orracle, or visit her Niagara Falls andNiagara-on-the-Lake Blogs.