A taste of Stratford’s sweetest season
Savour the classic flavour while browsing quaint shops and meandering around the town
If you are looking for a sweet day trip, head west to Stratford and travel their maple trail, where you can sip and savour the classic Canadian flavour while browsing quaint shops and meandering around town.
No hiking boots are required, just a culinary sense of adventure.
Cathy Rehberg, Stratford Tourism Alliance’s marketing manager, said a pass for the Savour Stratford Maple Trail is $25 plus HST and includes six vouchers that you exchange for delicious maple tastes or treats at six of 22 stops.
“It is a self-guided tour that is only on until April 30,” she said. “The trail was inspired by the fact that we do make maple syrup in this area and, this year being Canada’s 150th, it is a perfect fit for the iconic flavour.
“We had an excellent response from restaurants who wanted to participate in addition to purveyors of maple products.”
A couple of tips if you go. No. 1 — do not eat breakfast, as the sample sizes are generous. And No. 2 — if you go with a friend or family member, you may only want to use one voucher at a restaurant, sharing the offering, so you can visit more than six places. Or buy an additional pass.
With so much choice, it was difficult to decide which businesses to visit. However, my husband and I finally decided to start our late-morning tour at maple syrup’s birthplace — an actual sugar bush farm.
McCully’s Hill Farm, located just 10 minutes outside of Stratford in St. Mary’s, is part of the maple trail, offering a 125 mL bottle of maple syrup in exchange for a voucher.
John Aarts, one of the owners, said the farm has 1,200 taps which average 1,600 litres of maple syrup in a normal year. However, this year’s maple syrup production hasn’t been the greatest, because Mother Nature hasn’t co-operated. Ideal conditions have temperatures below freezing at night and above freezing during the day.
Despite this, McCully’s farm store has lots of syrup and other unique maple-infused offerings, including barbecue sauce, chili, baked beans, sausage, mustard and pickled beets. They also have many sweet treats, including the traditional maple suckers and candies.
“Everything in the store is sourced locally,” said Rika Aarts, also a co-owner. “Many of the products are made in house, and with our own pork, beef and chicken.”
After our farm visit we headed to Keystone Alley where we shared a plate of their homemade french fries and roasted maple butternut squash dipping sauce. The vegan sweet and sour sauce had a touch of heat that paired well with the salty fries.
Next up was The Hub @ 27 Marketplace, where we sampled their grilled sausage and caramelized onions with house-made balsamic maple mustard before moving onto Chocolate Barr’s Candies, where we exchanged a voucher for nine of their handmade cream and caramel chocolates. Of course maple cream was our first choice.
At Downie Street Burgers we devoured their maple bacon poutine — the best poutine I have ever had, and that is saying something since I have eaten it in Quebec and in five-star restaurants. Their crispy home-cut fries were piled high with maple bacon, cheese curds and their special poutine gravy.
Joe Gilchrist, the owner, said he marinates raw bacon in maple syrup for 24 hours before frying it crisp, and the gravy has Cowbell beer in it, which is produced by a new craft brewery in Blyth, 40 minutes northwest of Stratford. The dish is also topped with cheese curds imported from Montreal, “because those are the best,” and a maple aioli.
This poutine was created especially for the maple trail, but Gilchrist said he will probably add it to the restaurant’s summer menu since people are giving it two thumbs up. He recommends you pair it with their new maple bacon burger for true maple bliss.
The Stratford Country Club is offering trail participants a bowl of roasted maple butternut squash soup, while other sweet treats include a maple and walnut crepe at Pavillion Coffee and Crepes, maple fudge, with or without nuts, from Rheo Thompson Candies, a maple cupcake from Kandy Cakes, a maple sundae at JENN and Larry’s Brittle’n Shakes, and maple walnut shortbread cookies from Black Angus Bakery and Catering.
Owner Susan Ratz said the walnuts are candied in maple syrup before being added to the dough. The store has more than 20 shortbread flavours including Skor bar, chocolate chip, raspberry thumbprints, honey lavender and butter pecan. In addition to the dozen I received with my voucher, I purchased two other flavours, and all were divine.
After all this food, trail participants can head to Junction 56 Distillery to exchange a voucher for a sample of their Sugar Shack moonshine, which is flavoured with maple syrup and other select ingredients (and get a sample bottle to take home). Or, if coffee or tea is more your thing, head to Buzz Stop for a quarter-pound bag of maple mocha java or Distinctly Tea for a 50 g bag of Ceylon black tea blended with almond flakes and maple syrup flavouring.
Other trail offerings include a “Muskoka breakfast” soap that features the essence of maple syrup, smoky bacon and rich coffee.
In addition to the seasonal maple trail, Stratford offers a chocolate trail and a bacon and ale trail year-round. Passes for all three can be purchased at Stratford Tourism, 47 Downie St., and are valid for three days from the date of purchase.
For full details on these culinary offerings or other things to do in Stratford, www.visitstratford.ca or call 1-800-561-7926.