Colin McGee

I have heard that you can have a dog if you can prevent your pet from EVER accessing the kitchen area, as well as any area/path that will be used to transport food/supplies to the kitchen. You should discuss this with the ag dept.

Betsy, the vinegar wouldn’t be a problem, but I am almost sure that your health dept won’t allow a mustard containing egg. In that case, I don’t think tests are going to help you. If you want to sell a mustard without egg, then you probably won’t need to get it lab tested.

You should be able to do this from home with PA’s cottage food law, but if you want or need to rent a commercial kitchen, then you need to contact the ag dept to determine what’s required. You should also contact the farmers market manager to learn about additional requirements they may have.

I just checked out CFR 21 again, and although that is usually pretty confusing to me, it does look pretty clear that a blackberry jam needs a 47/55 ratio. Also, this seems correct to me… jams and jellies typically need more sugar than fruit.

In the case of the CFO jams you’ve seen in the market, that’s likely a mistake by the producer. In the…[Read more]

Vinegars probably aren’t allowed, but I’m not 100% sure, so you should contact the ag dept.