This is just a little Canadian-flavoured post to tide you over whilst I am under a sea of selling furniture and preparing the apartment for viewings; and whilst Albie is to busy sunning himself outside...
Maple Syrup.
Whether that conjures up images of pancakes, waffles, french toast... or baked beens (yes, really!) in your mind. Wherever you are in this small world, there's a good chance if you consume maple syrup it is from Quebec: three-quarters of the worlds output of maple syrup is from Quebec.
I should probably point out it is also made in America, particularly in the state of Vermont, but seeing as Canada produces around 85% of the world's maple syrup I will put it down as a Canadian thing.
We may not have a car anymore to enable us to spend every weekend discovering new places; we may not have snow (thank goodness!) to go skiing, but we can still continue our Canadian/Montreal adventure...by consuming maple syrup.
It is something we will not be tasting in Australia - unless it is imported - as it seems no where in the country gets cold enough for the maple sap to flow.
(The past winter still very fresh in my mind, I am loving this fact!)
(The past winter still very fresh in my mind, I am loving this fact!)
We have just discovered that the ice cream shop around the corner, Bilboquet, makes an amazing Tire d'érable (Maple Taffy) flavour. Vanilla ice cream with chunks of maple taffy rippled throughout, chewy yet melting in your mouth like chocolate; it is probably a good job it is a seasonal flavour and the maple season is all but over...
There are also seasonal cocktails, made with...yes, maple syrup!
They were very good, I can vouching particular for the maple mojito.
There are no photos, sorry, but I fear if there were they would have been a little blurry...ahem...
They were very good, I can vouching particular for the maple mojito.
There are no photos, sorry, but I fear if there were they would have been a little blurry...ahem...
Walking around, the bakeries have signs outside displaying their seasonal produce. On occasions it proved too hard to resist, and we would return from our walk with a beautifully wrapped box...
...containing our maple goodies...
There are many varieties of maple tree; but only the sugar maple tree produces the well-loved syrup; and apparently they are not tapped until they are around 40 years old. The more I learn about the process and what it takes to produce the sweet syrup; the more I realize what a time-consuming product it is to make. I will no longer grumble at the price, that's for sure!
Although the maple, a symbol of strength and endurance, has been adopted as a national tree by many countries as well as Canada; there is no mistaking Canada's allegiance to the maple. From pride of place on the national emblem on the flag, to on money...
...and the emblem for AirCanada, the largest airline in Canada.
So as we say good bye to a leaf, we will be welcoming something along the lines of a kangaroo, emu, or commonwealth stars (I couldn't find one specific icon), as well as being on the search for an Australian delicacy to satisfy our sweet tooth...