Can you sell homemade jam in Hawaii?

Yes. Hawaii's Department of Health lists jams and jellies as homemade food products, and they are the one exception to its rule against home canning: "No canning except jams & jellies" [1]. You need no food establishment permit, but you must complete food safety training before you sell, and every product carries the Department's home kitchen statement [1]. Hawaii is also unusually open about where jam can go once it is made: online, by mail, and even wholesale to permitted food businesses [1] [2].

Jam is the exception to Hawaii's canning ban

Most homemade food in Hawaii must be food that needs no time or temperature control for safety, and the Department lists canning and vacuum packaging among the methods a homemade food operation (HMF) may not use, with jams and jellies carved out by name [1]. That carve-out is the whole basis for selling preserves from a Hawaii kitchen, so it is worth reading narrowly. The Department's page names "jams & jellies." It does not name preserves, marmalades, fruit butters or low-sugar spreads, and it gives no recipe or sugar rule [1].

Pepper jelly sits between two rules

Act 195 of 2024 opened Hawaii's program to plant foods that are pickled, fermented or acidified [2]. Pepper jelly is an acidified food: peppers are low-acid, and the vinegar in the recipe brings them into the safe range (see pepper jelly). The Department sets the line for acidified plant foods at pH 4.2 or below or a water activity below 0.88 [1] [3], stricter than the 4.6 used in most states. The Act's own wording joins the two numbers with "and" rather than "or" [2]. And pepper jelly is also a jelly, which is the canning exception. Because the sources do not line up, ask the Food Safety Branch in writing whether your pepper jelly qualifies and which test it must meet.

Training, permits and the label

• Training. HMF operators must get food safety training from the Department [1]. An older Department handout adds that a program the Department approves also counts, that ANSI accredited courses meet the requirement, and that the Department offers free classes [4]. Confirm which applies when you sign up.
• Permits. A homemade food operation is exempt from the food establishment permit [1]. Some market and event organizers require a Special Event permit, so ask each one [1].
• Label. Each product carries "Made in a home kitchen not routinely inspected by the Department of Health." [1] The Department's handout adds the common or descriptive name, an ingredient list in descending order by weight when there are two or more ingredients, and your name and contact information [4]. Name the major allergens too. The rest of a jam label is on federal labeling for jam.
• Sales cap. The Department's page states none [1].

Online, mail and shops: what changed

Older Department handouts still circulate that say internet, mail order, consignment and wholesale sales are not allowed, and that restaurants and grocery stores cannot buy homemade products [4]. That is out of date. Act 195 directs rules that allow delivery by mail or shipping [2], and the Department's current page says you may sell online [1].

Wholesale is now possible too. State law allows HMF products to be wholesaled to permitted food establishments that resell them, and a restaurant using your product must have written disclosure that it is an HMF product [1]. The Department warns that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration does not recognize HMF products as an approved source [1], which matters to buyers with national suppliers or inspections. Neither the Act nor the Department's page addresses shipping to buyers outside Hawaii, so treat out-of-state sales as unconfirmed. For packing jars to travel, see shipping jam; for approaching shops, see selling jam to shops and cafes.

When a Hawaii jam business needs a permit

Products the HMF program does not cover, such as freezer jam or a spread the Department will not accept as a jam or jelly, need a kitchen operating under a Department food establishment permit. The options for renting or building one are on when you need a licensed kitchen.

Questions to put to the Department in writing

Hawaii Department of Health, Food Safety Branch, which runs the homemade food program under Hawaii Administrative Rules chapter 11-50. Its current Homemade Food Products page is reference [1]. Ask in writing about pepper jelly, low-sugar jam and fruit butters, since none is settled by the published sources. The sources above were checked in October 2026. If the answer on pepper jelly is no, pepper jelly explains why the acidified food test decides it.

References

1. Hawaii Department of Health, Food Safety Branch, Homemade Food Products, file dated January 29, 2026 (no date on the page), viewed October 2026. https://health.hawaii.gov/san/files/2019/09/hmf-foods-01.29.2026.pdf
2. Hawaii State Legislature, Act 195, Session Laws of Hawaii 2024 (H.B. 2144), approved July 3, 2024. https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/sessions/sessionlaws/Years/SLH2024/SLH2024_Act195.pdf
3. Hawaii Department of Health, Food Code Changes, August 24, 2025. https://health.hawaii.gov/san/files/2025/09/Food-Code-Changes-08242025-1.pdf
4. Hawaii Department of Health, Starting a Homemade Food Operation (HMF handout), not dated, copy hosted by Hawaii Foodbank, viewed October 2026. https://www.hawaiifoodbasket.org/s/HMF-HANDOUT-6.pdf
5. National Center for Home Food Preservation, Beware: Pumpkin Butter, December 7, 2012. https://nchfp.uga.edu/blog/beware-pumpkin-butter