Selling jam as an Indiana home based vendor
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Yes, once you have checked the pH. Indiana's home based vendor (HBV) law lists traditionally prepared fruit jams and jellies as approved foods, and it goes further than most states by also naming low-sugar and no-sugar-added jams and fruit butters [1]. Two conditions come before your first sale: you register your product list, labels and food handler certificate with your county health department, and you verify the pH of every canned product, which must be naturally acidic [1]. Sales go to the end consumer only, in person or by phone or internet, with delivery anywhere inside Indiana [1]. Growers have a second route since July 1, 2026.
What Indiana's list says about your preserves
| Product | Status for a home based vendor |
|---|---|
| Fruit jams and jellies, such as grape or strawberry | Approved [1] |
| Low-sugar or no-sugar-added jams and jellies | Approved [1] |
| Fruit butters, such as apple or pear | Approved [1] |
| Canned products in general | Only naturally acidic products, natural pH below 4.6; verify the pH of all canned products before sale [1] |
| Pepper jelly and other acidified foods | Not approved: acidified and low-acid canned foods are excluded [1] |
| Freezer jam | Not named; the guidance excludes foods that need temperature control [1], so treat it as outside the program and ask |
| Vacuum-sealed products | Not approved: reduced-oxygen packaging is excluded [1] |
Pepper jelly is an acidified food, because peppers are low-acid and the vinegar brings them into range, so it does not fit the home based vendor rules. Low-sugar jams are allowed, but they set and keep differently from full-sugar jam; follow a tested recipe from low-sugar jam.
The pumpkin butter problem
Marion County's guidance gives pumpkin as an example of an approved fruit butter [1]. The same guidance allows canned products only when they are naturally acidic [1], and pumpkin is not: it is a low-acid food, and there is no tested way to can pumpkin butter at home in either a boiling water canner or a pressure canner [2]. Read the two lines together and a shelf-stable jar of home-canned pumpkin butter does not qualify. Do not sell it. A refrigerated pumpkin butter needs temperature control, which the program also excludes [1]. The reasons are on pumpkin butter and other low-acid spreads.
Registering with your county
- Get a food handler certificate from an issuer accredited by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), and keep a copy to show the health department or a customer who asks [1].
- Submit your menu, your labels and the certificate to your county health department to register [1]. The county guidance does not state a fee; ask your county.
- Make everything at your primary residence. Only products you make there may be sold [1].
A home based vendor cannot hold a retail food license [1], and the program states no sales cap.
Selling in person, by phone or online
You may sell in person, including at farmers markets and roadside stands, or take orders by telephone or through the internet [1]. Delivery can be in person, by mail or by a third-party carrier, but only to buyers in Indiana, and you keep each buyer's shipping or mailing address for at least a year [1]. Jars that travel need packing that survives a carrier; see shipping jam.
You may not sell at any retail food establishment, and you may not sell wholesale for resale [1]. Marion County also warns that many venues do not accept food unless it comes from a licensed food establishment [1], so ask a market or event before you apply.
NOT FOR RESALE and the processing date
Every product carries, in at least 10 point type: "This product is home produced and processed and the production area has not been inspected by the State Department of Health. NOT FOR RESALE" [1]. Add your name and address, the product name, ingredients in descending order by weight, net weight or volume, and the date the product was processed [1]. The federal baseline for a jam label is on federal labeling for jam.
Growers: the homestead vendor route
HEA 1424 (Indiana Code 16-42-5.4), in effect from July 1, 2026, adds homestead vendors and small farms, exempt from licensing up to $1,500,000 in gross food sales a year [3]. Fruit spreads are among the foods listed, and products must be "primarily derived from" your property or farm [3]. Sales go directly to the end consumer from your property or at a farmers market, with online orders and delivery or shipping inside Indiana [3]. To ship or deliver you need an ANSI-accredited food handler certificate [3]. The required label statement, in at least 10 point type, is "This product was produced by a homestead vendor or the owner of a small farm that is exempt from government licensing and inspection." [3] The Department of Health's May 2026 memo does not say how canned fruit spreads are treated under this route, so ask before you rely on it.
Indiana's agencies and statutes
County health departments register home based vendors; the Indiana Department of Health, Food Protection Division, issued the homestead guidance [3]. The home based vendor law is Indiana Code 16-42-5.3. Checked against these sources in October 2026. The pH check is the step most new vendors have never done; measuring pH covers meters, calibration and lab tests.
References
- Marion County Public Health Department, Home Based Vendor Requirements, Food Requirements, and FAQs, revised December 6, 2022. https://marionhealth.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/2023hbv-2.pdf
- National Center for Home Food Preservation, Beware: Pumpkin Butter, December 7, 2012. https://nchfp.uga.edu/blog/beware-pumpkin-butter
- Indiana Department of Health, Food Protection Division, Farm and Homestead Food Sales (HEA 1424, IC 16-42-5.4), memo to local health departments, May 26, 2026. https://secure.in.gov/isda/files/idoh-homestead-and-small-farm-guidance.pdf
