Melanie

The major differences are that the basic law lets you only sell $20K of product at a few select venues, and it’s much easier to get going with that one. I tried to cover the differences in-depth on the law pages:
http://forrager.com/law/new-hampshire/
http://forrager.com/law/new-hampshire-homestead/

Regarding the filters, I’m not sure what you’re…[Read more]

Alex, it depends on where you live, but many states will not allow ganache, since it contains cream.

NJ doesn’t have any cottage food rules, exemptions, etc. Since the doughnuts will be made in a commercial kitchen, this should be possible, but I’m not sure of the specific rules. You will still need to label them (probably in the commercial kitchen), get a food business license, etc. Since you are not actually preparing the food, and the baker…[Read more]

Deb, yes you can sell your cakes and yes, you need to register with the ag dept, and there are a number of other requirements, which you can read through on this page: http://forrager.com/law/minnesota/

If you want to use cream cheese frosting, then you can’t run your business from home. http://forrager.com/faq/#commercial

I’m pretty sure you need to use a commercial kitchen to produce your products, and you should contact the health dept about how to get licensed. http://forrager.com/faq/#commercial

Buttercream frosting is almost always safe, but some states and health depts still don’t allow it. Usually this is because they prohibit all uncooked dairy products in cottage foods, even though butter is perfectly safe when left unrefrigerated. So in this instance, I’d say it’s not a matter of whether or not it is perishable, but rather that it…[Read more]