A Maple Syrup Tour in Stratford

Thanks to Suresh (@spotlightcity) from Spotlight Toronto and Emily (@Emily_Chandler) from Stratford Tourism Alliance, I was invited to a Maple Syrup day tour in Stratford with a group of food bloggers around a month ago (yes I know this post is way over due >_<). I went to Stratford last year for a Stratford Culinary Tour and had an amazing time so I was looking forward to this Maple Syrup tour (my Stratford Culinary Tour posts can be found here). And as I expected, it was an extremely fun-filled day. On that Saturday, I left the busy, bustling city behind me and enjoyed a day full of activities, all planned by Emily, and while munching on tasty food, I also learned a lot more about Stratford and its local restaurants and farms, and most importantly, I learned a lot more about Maple Syrup.

















Our first stop in the morning was at Revel Caffe where owner, Anne Campion, gave us a brief introduction about Revel Caffe and its direct and fair-trade coffee. Besides regular coffee, Revel Caffe also serve a wide variety of beverages including cappuccinos, lattes, espresso, French Press, americanos, teas from Straford Tea Leaves, and Italians sodas in the summer. Pastries is another speciality at Revel Caffe and they are all baked on site. While sipping cappuccinos, we were all served mini maple pecan schnecken (a traditional Saturday morning treat in Germany) made by their in-house Chef Jordan Lassaline. What a great way to start the day =D

Revel Caffe: 50 Wellington Street, Stratford, ON. N5A 2L2. Ph: 519-305-1600 - Email: revelcaffe@bell.net - Web: www.revelcaffe.com - Twitter: @revelcaffe

After the cappuccinos and delicious schneckens, we were off to McCully's Hill Farm. McCully's Hill Farm has been around for 160 years (!) and specializes in the production of maple products, natural meats, home-made baking and preserves, and garden fresh produce. Once you walk into McCully's Hill Farm, you will see endless jars of maple syrup, honey, jams, jellies, pickles and relishes. McCully's Hill Farm also carry naturally raised meats, fresh homemade pies, and maple tarts. So in short, a lot of good, local foods.

Stratford Culinary Tour: Shakespeare Pies and The Best Little Pork Shoppe

Our last two destinations of the day were at Shakespeare Pies and The Best Little Pork Shoppe. Shakespeare Pies, owned by Susie and Gerry Wagler, sells fresh pies made from scratch with fruit from surrounding Mennonite farms. They also carry different varieties of meat pies, tarts, cookies, jams, relishes, pickled eggs, maple syrup, apple butter, honey, and many more neat stuff. You must drop by Shakespeare Pies on the way home if you're a pie or tart lover.

Stratford Culinary Tour: Candy Making Workshop at Chocolate Barr's Candies

I love sweets. I am a "dessert" person, a "must save room for dessert" person, and "can never be too full for dessert" person. I can have chocolate and candy any time of day. Before dinner? "Sure!" Before going to bed? "Great!" During a meeting at work? "Perfect!" You get my drift. Needless to say I was ecstatic at the thought of making candy at Chocolate Barr's Candies with owner Derek Barr. 

Derek Barr, along with the help of his wife, Jacqueline, opened Chocolate Barr's Candies  back in 2003. They open 7 days a week and have all sorts of goodies including brittles, candies, nutty pop, chocolate (many different kinds of bars, caramels, jellies, truffles, etc.)

Here are just some of the many cute chocolates at Chocolate Barr's:

Stratford Culinary Tour: Tea Workshop with Karen Hartwick

After a delicious lunch prepared and cooked by Chef Neil Baxter of Rundles, I was getting droopy eyes and was feeling a tad too comfortable (nap time?). I'm sure, to a certain extent, everyone at the barn that day felt the same way after lunch.  But who can blame us? The delicious 3-course lunch paired with VQA wine from Niagara was just too good of a combo. So what's the solution? A tea tasting of course - caffeine usually does the trick. Although I'm not an avid tea drinker, I still enjoy tea from time to time. I usually can't escape from tea if I go for dim sum, and it's pretty much standard to have tea when eating out at Chinese restaurants. For relaxation,  I like to sip on a hot cup of tea at home and curl up with a good book. For functional purposes, I also drink tea when I need to stay awake and study (since coffee doesn't seem to work for me). So I guess I drink tea more often than I thought.

We were very lucky to have Karen Hartwick, a certified tea sommelier and accredited by the Specialty Tea Institute in New York, to lead a tea tasting workshop for us that day. More than a tea expert, a tea sommelier is a rigorous designation compared to that of a wine sommelier, and much more rare as well. Karen is also the owner of Tea Leaves Tea Tasting Bar in Stratford.

Stratford Culinary Tour: Soiled Reputation Barn Lunch with Chef Neil Baxter

Time for lunch. Lunch was served in the barn at Soiled Reputation. I have personally never ate in a barn before, have you? Coupled with good food, good wine, and good company, that day's barn lunch was really something special; I think I will remember it for the rest of my life. The pictures here really don't do justice in terms of the atmosphere in the barn that day, but it's the best I can do =) 


To start off, we were served cold organic herbal tea. This was so refreshing after being out in the sun at Fred de Martines' hog farm and Antony's farm just before. We were  also served Pilsner from the Stratford Brewing Company  and wines from Malivoire. I admit, I was greedy and had all of the above.

Stratford Culinary Tour: Perth Pork Products

After visiting Soiled Reputation, we headed over to Perth Pork Products. Perth Pork Products, like the name suggests, is a hog farm started by Fred and Ingrid de Martines, who immigrated from the Netherlands about 30 years ago. Fred is a certified Swine Specialist with European training and experience. They have been selling pork products in Stratford since 1992 directly to the public on the farm and to local restaurants and stores. Chefs are loyal customers of the farm due to the exceptional quality of their products. To the foodies out there, they supply to places like The Black Hoof, The Drake, L'unita, and The Healthy Butcher.

Here is Fred de Martines with Emily Chandler from the Stratford Tourism Alliance.

Stratford Culinary Tour: Soiled Reputation

After visiting Monforte Dairy, we headed over to Soiled Reputation. Soiled Reputation is a farm owned and run by Antony John and his wife Tina VandenHeuval, where they had their farm showcased as hosts of "The Manic Organic" on Canada's Food Network and House and Garden TV (the show was subsequently sold to over 50 countries around the world). Soiled Reputation is a certified organic farm and greenhouses, growing custom sald mixes, seedlings, and leafy greens all year round. They have been supplying top restaurants, markets, retail locations, and homes in Toronto, Stratford, and Niagara for 15 years. Below are pictures of one of their many greenhouses.

Stratford Culinary Tour: Monforte Dairy

On Saturday, May 29th, I had the utmost opportunity to join some local foodies and food bloggers on a culinary trip to Stratford, Ontario, in Perth County. I just want to say "thanks" to Suresh Doss, publisher of Spotlight Toronto, for inviting me to this event. I truly feel really lucky to be invited since I've only started this food blog about a month and a half ago, and already I am given a chance to go on a culinary tour with food bloggers that write for the FoodNetwork.ca, National Post, blogTO, Toronto Life (just to name a few)! There was really no way that I was going to pass up this opportunity. The Stratford culinary tour turned out to be just as wonderful as I thought it would be; it was educational, fulfilling, fun, and exhilarating. The day was jam-packed with activities and it flew by so quickly.

To be honest, I haven't been to Stratford since high school for English classes, and up until I was invited to Stratford a month ago, I really had no idea that Stratford has become such a culinary haven full of rich farming region, which was cultivated since the early 19th century. Stratford is also well known for its Stratford Chefs School, which has been training chefs for 26 years and its alumni includes some of Canada's top chefs. For more information about Stratford, and its "Savour Stratford Perth County Culinary Week" from September 18-26 (which I will definitely try to attend), visit Savour Stratford. Savour Stratford is part of Savour Ontario, a program designed to campaign and promote more consumers in choosing the fresh, locally grown foods of Ontario.