TasteTrip
Choc around the clock (page 3)
“It’s just like playing in mud,” says veteran
Hazel Way, “except it tastes better.”
BONBON APPÉTIT
Getting there St. Stephen is
a two-hour drive south of
Fredericton and about 1½ hours
west of Saint John. It lies across
the St. Croix River from Calais,
Maine, and has a co-operative
relationship with its American
neighbour, sharing fire services
and working together on community
projects, including an
annual cross-border parade held
during Chocolate Fest.
Staying there Find a list of
St. Stephen inns and B&Bs at
www.town.ststephen.nb.ca. The
resort town of St. Andrews, a
half-hour drive southeast, on
Passamaquoddy Bay, also offers
a number of options, including
the luxurious Fairmont Algonquin.
www.fairmont.com/algonquin
Playing there
St. Stephen’s
Chocolate Fest takes place the
first full week of August, the only
time the Ganong factory opens
for tours. For more information,
visit www.chocolate-fest.ca.
The Chocolate Museum, located
in the original Ganong plant, is
open from March to November.
See chocolatemuseum.ca for
details. To work off that sugar
high, visit the St. Andrews wharf
to find tour guides and whale
watching outfitters operating on
the Bay of Fundy.
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The fudge room, as it was called, on
the second floor of the old factory, smells
like chocolate, and I notice there’s still
some on the floor. Sugar has surely permeated
the floorboards, and the scent will
linger long after the building has been
converted into apartments or office space.
For now, it has been strung with pink garlands
for tonight’s Choctail Hour, a lavish
send-off to a sweet week. The event has
been sold out for ages, and St. Stephen’s
finest mingle with friends from away. It’s
a chance to sip a Mudslide, a decadent mix
of chocolate milk and vodka, and savour a
shared history. I clink glasses with Lynn
Kelley as she comes down from her chocolate-
induced sugar rush.
In the 1930s, this room would have been
lined with dozens of wooden tables, fudge
laid out in a thick slab on top and left to
harden. Wood, it turns out, is the ideal surface
for fudge-making, while nougat needs
the coolness of a marble top and caramel is
best made on steel tables. I soak in the lingering
scent, a sugary sweetness that once
wafted across the entire downtown core calling
workers to their shifts.
Servers circle the room carrying silver
trays piled high with chocolate. “Would
you like one?” they ask.
How can I refuse?
Patricia D’Souza is a senior editor with
Canadian Geographic Travel. Photographer
André Gallant lives in Saint John, N.B.
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