The Sugar Shack

Today was our
#cabaneàsucre    ‪or   #sugarshack‪   or   #tiresurlaneige   or   ‪#sucrélebec  or  #Chalet des Erables

excursion.  It was a great time with Bishop Desjourdy and his wife Lisa (who organized the whole thing) All the missionaries, Valli, The Skenes and the Herrings.

After we got there and checked in we were directed to the soup where we turned in our ticket and got our Split Pea Soup and a plate for the rest of our meal.’

We put our soup at our place and then took the plate to the little buffet.  There we picked up Pork Rinds, eggs, ham, potatoes, baked beans and crepes.  When you start eating you are suppose to drown the whole dish in maple syrup.  Everything, eggs, potatoes, beans, ham, crepes,  and even the pork rinds.  

  

There was also some sweet and sour pickles, green ketchup, and fruit Ketchup, as well as coleslaw, and regular condiments.

Here is our friend and investigator Valli, who went with us and the missionaries.  What a great guy!!  He is from India and is working at the University of Sherbrooke in Nano Technology. (that means he is ooober smart - he designs those tiny little chips in your computer, phone, smart pad, etc)

After the main course we were treated to grandpere (grandpa) which is dumplings cooked in maple syrup and then covered with a maple sauce.  Oh my YUM!!

This is the bottle of syrup that was on our table.  If you read closely you can read how the syrup is made.

  

But what we were told was that it takes 40 gallons of tree sap- that is boiled down- to make 1 gallon of maple syrup.  We were also told that the lighter the syrup the better it is.  As it gets older – or later in the year -  it gets darker and stronger. Also,  the taste of maple varies between regions and altitudes.  So there are many different flavors.

 After we ate we went to the shack where the sap is boiled down and then did “Sugar on Snow”.  This is where they take hot syrup and pour it onto packed snow.  It hardens and you then twist it onto your stick and eat it like a sucker.  The first one I did was still a little soft and was sticky.  Then I learned that you let it get hard and after it forms a little.  Oh my, I ate way too many of them.  It was fun to try and get the hard syrup on a stick, but it was really good!!

  Bishop and his daughter.

The Vats where they boil down the sap.

 Barrels of syrup with the company sign.

Elder Blackwelder, Vallie, Elder Ritz, Seour Leon, Seour Hunt

The trees being tapped.  Big farms no longer use buckets and taps.  They use these tubes.  It looks like the trees are getting an IV.  If you look close at the next pictures you can see the blue tubes all through the forest.

After the "Sugar on Snow", we took a walk in the forest. 

The Elders and Sisters, Bishop and wife and especially Jordan and his mom had a snowball fight.  It was pretty funny. (notice Elder Petersen in the middle of the war.)

Especially when the bishop got his wife really good, and then she took him down in the snow!

The missionaries though it was great fun!

You can see how deep the snow is looking out the window of the bldg. 

What a great day it was.  Great people, Great food, and Great fun.