Travel Writing

                                                                                                                                                                          Tracy Hanes photo

    Although there are many the­o­ries on how and where it orig­i­nated, the beloved but­ter tart is a uniquely Cana­dian dessert. 

                                                        

Following Ontario’s butter tart trail

The prov­ince might well be the tart cap­i­tal of the world, with a tour of­fer­ing 43 stops

Toronto Star
October 22, 2015

By TRACY HANES AND SCOTT WHALEN
Special to The Star

Hockey and Tim Hor­tons dou­ble-dou­bles might be Cana­di­ans’ most in­tense culi­nary ob­ses­sion, but it’s a sim­ple dessert that we are truly pas­sion­ate about: the but­ter tart. This hum­ble treat evokes mem­o­ries of mom and grandma, and sparks lively de­bates. Plain or pe­cans? Raisins or not? Solid or runny? Flaky or firm?

John Sch­nee­berger, fac­ulty co-or­di­na­tor of culi­nary man­age­ment at Loy­al­ist Col­lege in Belleville, says but­ter tarts are one of his favourite pas­tries and their aroma makes him swoon. He uses a recipe from a friend’s grand­mother who got it from her grand­mother. That’s what makes but­ter tarts so beloved.

“Th­ese are incredible recipes handed down through gen­er­a­tions of Cana­dian fam­i­lies and they have so much her­itage. It’s so much his­tory, from gen­er­a­tion to gen­er­a­tion that ties us to­gether.”

It’s no sur­prise On­tario tourism of­fi­cials are tempt­ing trav­ellers by el­e­vat­ing the tart to the Holy Grail of dessert finds.

The Kawarthas Northum­ber­land But­ter Tart Tour, an hour east of Toronto, in­cludes a stag­ger­ing 43 stops.

How any­one could try so many tarts is a mys­tery, but mer­ci­fully, the tour has been di­vided into four road trips with names such as Dash and Dine, You Had Me at But­ter, To Your Tart’s Con­tent and Tart Me Up.

The tour was cre­ated af­ter lo­cal tourism of­fi­cials noted that in­dul­gent food is a com­mon in­ter­est among trav­ellers and the area boasted an abun­dance of bak­eries fea­tur­ing the uniquely Cana­dian treat.

“By cre­at­ing a tour, we are able to show­case the home-style and her­itage recipes our bak­ers of­fer vis­i­tors through­out Kawarthas-Northum­ber­land,” says Brenda Wood, ex­ec­u­tive di­rec­tor of Kawarthas Northum­ber­land Re­gional Tourism Or­ga­ni­za­tion 8.

The routes guide vis­i­tors to some of the best bak­eries and cafés and en­cour­age them to dis­cover more of Peter­bor­ough and the Kawarthas by stop­ping at lo­cal busi­nesses and at- trac­tions, says Fiona Daw­son, di­rec­tor of tourism for Peter­bor­ough and the Kawarthas.

The routes guide vis­i­tors to some of the best bak­eries and cafés and en­cour­age them to dis­cover more of Peter­bor­ough and the Kawarthas by stop­ping at lo­cal busi­nesses and at- trac­tions, says Fiona Daw­son, di­rec­tor of tourism for Peter­bor­ough and the Kawarthas.

The routes guide vis­i­tors to some of the best bak­eries and cafés and en­cour­age them to dis­cover more of Peter­bor­ough and the Kawarthas by stop­ping at lo­cal busi­nesses and at- trac­tions, says Fiona Daw­son, di­rec­tor of tourism for Peter­bor­ough and the Kawarthas.

The Star set out on a sam­pler of the Tart Me Up route in Peter­bor­ough and the Kawarthas. We chose six stops se­lected be­cause of their lo­ca­tion (mid­way be­tween our houses), have an in­ter­est­ing am­bi­ence or lo­cal scenery, and of­fer beverages to wash down all that sugar.

They in­cluded Doo Doo’s Bak­ery in Bailieboro; Pas­try Ped­dler in Mill­brook; Black Honey Desserts in Peter­bor­ough; Whis­tle Stop Café, also in Peter­bor­ough; Nuttshell Next Door in Lakefield; and Coun­try Mart in Buck­horn.

The On­tario’s Best But­ter Tart Fes­ti­val and Con­test, held an­nu­ally in Mid­land, is a sign that the tart’s time has come. This year, 20,000 peo­ple at­tended and more than 50,000 tarts sold out.

The On­tario’s Best But­ter Tart Fes­ti­val and Con­test, held an­nu­ally in Mid­land, is a sign that the tart’s time has come. This year, 20,000 peo­ple at­tended and more than 50,000 tarts sold out.

Diane Rogers of Doo Doo’s Bak­ery in Bailieboro has won the pro­fes­sional cat­e­gory at the fes­ti­val for the last two years.

For this year’s freestyle theme, she com­bined a clas­sic tart with a pump­kin but­ter fill­ing, and trust us on this, that tart alone is worth tak­ing this tour.

But there are many more de­lights to be found on this trip.

It was im­pos­si­ble to choose a favourite tart; it’s all up to your in­di­vid­ual palate.

The scenery, sur­round­ings and the folks you will meet are re­ally the prover­bial ic­ing on the but­ter tart — as if it weren’t sweet enough al­ready.