St. Catherine's taffy

Canadian cuisine

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Regional cuisines Maritimes • Quebec • Toronto
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St. Catherine's Taffy is a variety of taffy made in Quebec to celebrate the feast day of Saint Catherine of Alexandria.

Origins

St. Catherine's Taffy is a candy made by girls in Quebec to honor St. Catherine, the patron saint of unmarried women on her feast day, November 25. St. Catherine's day is sometimes known in Quebec as "taffy day," a day when marriage-age girls would make taffy for eligible boys. Marguerite Bourgeoys, a founder of the Notre-Dame de Montréal and an early teacher at Ville-Marie, the colonial settlement that would later become Montreal is credited with starting the tradition as a way of keeping the attention of her young students.