Holiday season is fast approaching. Invitations will be arriving soon. Always good to have a few hostess gifts on hand and there’s no better, more convenient place to fulfill that need than Mr. Ken’s Homemade shop at 560 Salmon Brook Street, north of Granby center.
This is Ken Burkhart’s home, where he makes about 20 different kinds of jams, depending on the season, and 18 varieties of honey. You can sample these and select the one(s) you like best. There are also individual honey sticks, good for a cup of tea or just a snack. A most unusual honey gift is a honey comb in a jar, with or without actual honey. Jars of honey with garlic are also available.
He also has three types of maple syrup made from a sugar house in Vermont. Syrup from early in the sugaring season is referred to as “light;” that from the middle of the season is “rich.” At the end of the season, the syrup is “robust,” dark and strong. In addition to the syrup, Burkhart carries finely granulated maple sugar, in bags and shakers, made at the same sugar house.
In addition to these delicious edible products, there are related gifts, such as notecards and pictures, wooden honey dippers, pens with bee designs and an assortment of vases and cachepots. Beeswax candles in assorted colors are also available. Burkhart notes that these “burn 100 percent clean, no smoke or soot!” Right now, the shop has some very cute mini totes with wooden handles made of a sturdy bee-printed fabric with handy built-in compartments.
If any of this sounds interesting for gifts or for yourself, Mr. Ken’s is open Tuesday through Sunday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The shop closes for the season the day after Christmas so Burkhart can relax down south for the winter. He’ll be back in the spring, ready to start making next season’s fruit and berry jams and honey.