Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What is the shelf life of your products?
A: We think you'll love our products so much you will have a hard time not consuming them immediately! However, if you can resist the temptation, you will be happy to know that our items will remain fresh longer.
Hard candies / lollipops are made fresh and do not contain added preservatives, so if not consuming immediately, store in an air tight container under cool temperatures up to 4 weeks for best quality and flavor. Properly stored candies can last up to one year, but may lose color and flavor, and crystallize over time.
Jams ship with a shelf life of at least 6 months. For best quality, store unopened jars in a dry, cool location. Opened jars should be stored in the refrigerator and consumed within 1 month of opening.
Sealed, glass jar infusion kits and unopened infusion pouches can last up to 1 year, when stored in a cool, dry location away from sunlight. However, it is recommended to use within 6 months.
Q: Where do you ship?
A: Sweet Kee's, LLC is a cottage food business operating under home processor registration by the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets. As such, we are unable to ship to addresses outside of New York State. If you live out of state but in the New York metropolitan area, we encourage you to visit us in person at any of the markets and live events that we participate in throughout the year, ship to a NY address that you can pick up from, or you may place an order for pickup at the Jefferson Valley Mall by arrangement.
Q: Do you have a retail store?
A: We do not currently have a permanent retail space, however we are regularly exploring retail outposts and pop-ups for our products. Send us a note at admin@sweetkees.com if you would like to offer Sweet Kee's products at your location.
Seasonally, from late May through October, you can find Sweet Kee's products at the Poughkeepsie Waterfront Market on Tuesday afternoons, and at the Arlington Farmers Market on Thursday afternoons. We also visit several other area markets throughout the summer and fall season including the Heart of the Hudson Valley Farmers Market in Milton, and the Garden Street Farm Market in Poughkeepsie.
Q: Are all of your flavors available year round or do they change?
A: All of our evergreen flavors and varietals are offered year round, although we review our offerings periodically and occasionally make adjustments based on demand.
Our evergreen candy flavors include: Strawberry, Green Apple, Peach Mango, Fruit Punch, Champagne, Watermelon, Strawberry Margarita, and Pina Colada. Beginning in 2025, we will be making adjustments and adding several new candy flavors to our evergreen offerings.
Our evergreen jam flavors include: Peach Berry and Strawberry Mango
Our evergreen infusion varietals include: Red Wine Sangria, White Wine Sangria, Strawberry Peach Margarita, Spicy Pineapple Margarita, Hibiscus Rum Punch, and Bourbon Punch
In addition, we offer a variety of seasonal and limited-availability offerings across all of our product lines. Seasonal flavors can disappear at any time based on availability, so if you see one that you like, we highly recommend ordering it sooner rather than later! Examples of past seasonal offerings include Maple, Eggnog, and Banana lollipops, Peppermint candies, Holiday jam, and Holiday Spiced Wine infusions.
Q: Are your lollipops made with honey?
A: All of our lollipops are traditional, sugar-based lollipops and do not contain honey as an added ingredient.
Q: Can I place an order now if I don't need it immediately? And how much lead time do you need?
A: Absolutely! In fact, we encourage you to order early especially if you intend to order large quantities or customized items (you may order up to 6 months in advance). Ordering early ensures that we can fulfill your exact order request, and allows us to streamline planning. Simply indicate in your order notes when you would like to receive the order or when you intend to pickup (for pickup orders). Your order will be made fresh based on the desired receive-by date or pickup date provided.
Made-to-order items offered for sale on our website typically ship within 2-3 business days, however custom orders, orders with extensive add-ons, and/or larger bulk quantity orders may require additional lead time. We recommend placing large bulk and/or customized orders 2-3 weeks in advance of your desired receive-by date however we are usually able to accommodate shorter lead times if needed.
Q: Can you accommodate bulk orders for parties, weddings or other events?
A: Yes, we love parties and events! You can find our events catalog posted in our online gallery and on our Instagram page, which contains bulk pricing for our candies, jams, and infusion kits. Or, email us at admin@sweetkees.com for additional information.
For your convenience, we offer bulk 1.5" and 2" lollipops in frequently ordered quantities (25/50) on the Candies page under the Shop tab. For other bulk quantities or configurations, simply email us at admin@sweetkees.com, or use the Contact form under the Info & Contact tab to send us a note specifying what you are looking for.
Q: Why are your candies not colored?
A: We seek to minimize the use of FD&C dyes in our candies and minimize unnecessary ingredients, which means that most of our candies are light in color and translucent in nature. This is the result of natural coloration without dyes. With the exception of Watermelon, all of our evergreen candy flavors are free of FD&C dyes. We occasionally use natural dyes to add color in seasonal candies that are available for limited periods of time. Our confetti nonpareil sprinkles and holiday sprinkles are also made with natural dyes, and do not contain any artificial colors or high fructose corn syrup. We offer a few add-ons, and top-selling seasonal candies and mints, that may contain FD&C dyes. For questions on the ingredient contents of any of our items, send us a note using the Contact form under the Info & Contact tab or email us directly at admin@sweetkees.com.