Preserving a Legacy at Henderson Farms
Henderson Farms
hendersonfarms.on.ca
When you’ve won Grand Champion Jam and Jelly Maker at Toronto’s Royal Agricultural Winter Fair five times, it’s safe to say you know a thing or two about preserves.
Along with his family, Robert Henderson runs Henderson Farms, producing award-winning jellies and jams in a large commercial kitchen at his third-generation family farm settled along the St. Lawrence River on Wolfe Island.
“It’s a family-run business,” says Robert. And that business includes Robert’s partner Norman Dupont, Robert’s siblings William and Nancy Henderson, and their mother Wilda Henderson, who oversees daily activities.
“My parents cooked a lot,” he continues. “We always tried new foods. The passion for cooking keeps me coming back to the kitchen.”
“My parents cooked a lot, we always tried new foods. The passion for cooking keeps me coming back to the kitchen.”
Robert Henderson, Henderson Farms
Henderson Farms’ repertoire includes about 50 different types of jams, jellies and marmalades in traditional flavours like strawberry and blueberry jams, but also novel variations like peach and jalapeño, wild dandelion wine, and stinging nettle jelly. Robert uses ingredients from local farms whenever possible, like chokecherries and elderberries grown on Wolfe Island. And the Henderson family grows their own rhubarb on the farm to create one of Robert’s favourite flavours: fig rhubarb jam.
While Robert has won dozens of other high-profile awards for his preserves, the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair in Toronto is where he can really flex his skills and concoct his most experimental flavours yet.
Henderson Farms isn’t just jams and jellies, either. In recent summers, the farm has opened to guests looking for a refined afternoon.
“It’s a traditional-style English Tea,” explains Robert. Guests enjoy sandwiches, scones and desserts served with Henderson Farms jam and, of course, tea.
Their whole kitchen is nut-free and dairy-free, and they offer plenty of gluten-free baking options to choose from. Each fall they bake hundreds of additional fruit crisps and pies in time for the holidays. Their award-winning jams and innovative baking keep their market stand busy. “We have an amazing flourless chocolate beet cake,” says Robert. “And soft ginger cookies which people are just raving for.”
