5 minute read
How to eat a Chicken Bone
Three New Brunswick culinary road trips
BY DARCY RHYNO
To eat a Chicken Bone, “bite through it, breaking the jacket,” says David Ganong, past president for more than 30 years of Canada’s oldest candy manufacturer, Ganong Brothers. He’s not talking poultry. The man sometimes referred to as Canada’s Willie Wonka is referring to a favourite Atlantic Canadian Christmas sweet, which resembles a pink bone.
“You’ve got the sweet, cinnamon- flavoured jacket on the outside and the bittersweet chocolate in the centre, which is a nice combination,” says Ganong. In St. Stephen, across the border from Calais, Maine, the company established in 1873 is the first stop on one of New Brunswick’s three culinary road trips.
Bay Of Fundy Drive
Follow the Bay of Fundy, beginning at the Chocolate Museum in the original
Ganong factory, where visitors sample the goods and watch as workers hand dip confections in chocolate. Ganong Brothers invented Chicken Bones in 1885, plus an early chocolate nut bar in 1909. Like Chicken Bones, Pal-o-Mine is still around today. Early every August, St. Stephen hosts Chocolate Fest, a sweets festival with events like a pudding eating contest, jellybean fun run, and “choctail” (chocolate cocktail) hour.
In nearby Saint Andrews, funky cafés like Honeybeans and bistros like SeaBreeze are scattered among colourful shops and busy wharves where whale watching tours depart. Ferries based in neighbouring Blacks Harbour carry visitors to several islands, including Grand Manan, where harvesters fish lobster in the bay and dulse, a purple seaweed dried as a salty snack, is foraged.
In the port city of Saint John, the culinary scene revolves around the city market. Founded in 1876, it’s the oldest continuously run farmers market in Canada and a national historic site. Daily, the deputy market clerk rings a bell to mark the opening and closing of vendor stalls. Saint John is known for restaurants serving international cuisine, including Lebanese, Asian fusion, Irish, and Italian, plus for late nights at taprooms like Big Tide and wine bars like Happinez.
Saint John River Drive
Departing Saint John, the province’s second culinary route follows the Saint John River, or Wolastoq in the Indigenous Maliseet-Passamaquoddy language, which flows through the entire province. The ostrich fern grows along its shores. Its fresh shoots called fiddleheads are harvested in spring and made into delicious dishes. Its curly fronds feature on New Brunswick’s coat of arms.
Mary Ellen Hudson with Fredericton Tourism talks about the capital city’s culinary prominence. “Fredericton boasts the largest number of craft brewers per capita in the Atlantic provinces with 26 local breweries, cideries, distilleries, meaderies, and wineries.” She suggests picking up a copy of the Taproom Trail, a map guiding visitors to 11 taprooms across the city. A stamp at each wins a prize.
Hudson says that vendors at the Garrison Night Market and Boyce Farmers Market have spun off many restaurants. In 2019, Jenna White expanded from Jenna’s Nut-Free Dessertery stall at Boyce into her own restaurant. Venturing beyond desserts, her Indigenous roots show on a menu with wild rice and fiddleheads. “I serve our breakfast sandwiches on bannock because it’s important for me to share my culture. We grow vegetables, garlic, and herbs in my yard, and I showed my kids how to grow the three sisters: squash, pole beans, and corn.”
Driving north, you’ll see that potatoes are New Brunswick’s most important crop. They inspire festivals and museums like Potato World in Florenceville-Bristol. Endless fields of potatoes grow along the highway as it follows the river to Edmunston, a city also known for its buckwheat pancakes or ploye. A staple for early French settlers, the hearty treat is best served with butter and maple syrup.
Acadian Coast
Find more culturally connected foods along the Acadian coast from Shediac to Campbellton. Acadian restaurants are filled with more traditional cuisine, including chicken fricot or stew, and tartes aux coques or clam pie.
Seafood is prominent on menus along the coast, including at Shediac where a 90-tonne sculpture of a lobster welcomes visitors. Today, restaurants offer a variety from traditional seafood chowder to sushi. At Adorable Chocolates, chocolate making has evolved to a fine art. Inside the artisan shop and cafe, sample a few of their handmade bites.
I select the Taste of the Sea Assorted Chocolate box which includes Atlantic sea salt caramels, truffles, and chocolates in the shape of seashells. Unlike Ganong’s Chicken Bones, I won’t need any instruction on how to devour this box of goodies.
Ploye
The ploye, made with buckweat flour, is a tradition in the Madawaska Valley and area. Often a substitute for bread, ploye is a hearty pancake, a meal said to calm the appetites of hungry field workers. It’s served with molasses or maple syrup, and just plain butter. A ploye is never flipped while cooking, as it will bubble nicely from the bottom to hold those sweet toppings. Buckwheat is nutrient rich and gluten free, but in a pinch, whole wheat flour can be substituted.
Ingredients
1 cup (250 mL) white flour
2 cups (500 mL) buckwheat flour (AKA green buckwheat flour or Tartary buckwheat)
2 cups (500 mL) cold water
1tsp (5 mL) fine salt
2 cups (500 mL) boiling water
2 tsp (10 mL) baking powder
Instructions
Mix first four ingredients. Add the boiling water and baking powder. Mix again. Cook in a hot, greased pan on one side only until cooked through. Serve with molasses, sugar, or maple syrup, and butter, or any other sweet condiment such as berry jam.
