Maple syrup: it’s a Canadian staple and the best way to enjoy it is melted into fresh white snow (Again, that’s white snow, NOT yellow!) and then wrapped around a stick and popped directly into your mouth like a lollipop.  That or on pancakes, or both if you can manage, and you can.  Often called Maple Taffy, I recently enjoyed this gooey treat at Kings Landing Historical settlement outside of Fredericton NB, Canada.

Kings Landing goes all out for their Sugar Bush event weekend, which happens every year in March.  They do everything historically and by the books – no new technology here.  Once the sap starts running in the maple trees, the workers take their buckets out to the trees and start collecting the not so tasty maple sap.  They then put it into giant black cauldrons over toasty fires to boil it into maple syrup.  Then they open the park for the first time in the season, and let the customers in.

Boiling the maple sap into syrup!

Because Sugar Bush takes place in March it’s a good idea to bundle up before you go.  If you do find yourself getting cold though, you can huddle around the fires and listen to one of the kind gentlemen working the syrup as he explains to you how the process works.  Plus, the table where they make the candied snow is right beside the fires, so you can set yourself up with a steady stream of sugar as you heat up, for only two dollars a pop.

Making Maple Taffy

Once you’ve had your fill of the Maple Taffy, be sure to explore the rest of the historical settlement.  You can hop onto a free sleigh ride, pulled by giant horses, that will take you past old homes, brought to the settlement for historical preservation, and give you magnificent views of the, currently frozen, St. John River.  You can hop off and visit the farm, where there are pigs, horses, cows and sheep.  Kids love going inside the barns, but this is no petting zoo – these animals are huge.  The man who takes care of them assures me they are safe, and is clearly attached to his oversized “pets.”

The caretaker of the animals

Beside the barns you’ll find the first of the old houses.  Inside it’s like a small museum with antique furniture showing how people used to live and do their chores.  However, it smells nothing like you’d expect in a museum, no musty old odour.  Instead it smells like fresh pancakes.  Head into the kitchen and watch the ladies cook on old-fashioned cook tops, then sample the tasty pancakes they serve up.  See, I told you you could manage Maple Taffy AND pancakes!  Before you leave this house, be sure also to ask to try to spin some wool on the wheel.

Finally hop back on the sleigh ride and make your way to the other side of the settlement.  Here you’ll see the famous mill up the river and the main building called the Kings Head Inn.  At the inn you can, and should, enjoy a hot chocolate or a hot apple cider.  Then buy a voucher to try venison being cooked over yet another camp-fire up the path.

The Kings Head Inn

If you’ve never had venison before you should definitely try it.  If you don’t know what it is, it’s deer meat.  This year was my first experience eating it, and while I’m glad that I tried it I can’t say I liked it very much.  My friends that I was with loved it though.  It’s a bit chewier then meat that I’m used to eating, and it has that “gamey” taste that had previously been described to me. It’s also covered in maple syrup BBQ sauce, so that part was amazing.

Overall Sugar Bush at Kings Landing is a must do activity if you are in the Fredericton Area in March.  Stepping into Kings Landing is like stepping into a time machine.  Don’t rush a visit, there is so much to see, do and learn.  Wander around, take some pictures, have some candy, and immerse yourself in the history presented all around you.