What your state allows
Updated
The split
Two layers, and only one of them is published somewhere you can read it. The federal layer defines an acidified food and what follows from being one. The state layer decides whether a home kitchen may produce it at all, and that answer differs between states and differs from the answer for jam in the same state.
| Question | Answered by |
|---|---|
| Is this an acidified food | Federal definition, 21 CFR 114.3 |
| What process must be behind it | Federal regime, with a process authority |
| May I make it at home | State cottage food law, and often not |
| May I sell it wholesale | State, almost always no under an exemption |
| What must the label say | Federal labeling, plus state disclosure |
Why pickles are treated differently from jam
This is the part that surprises people who already make jam. Many state exemptions that happily include fruit preserves exclude pickles, or include only some of them, because the acidified category carries a risk profile the fruit preserve does not. Assuming the jam answer carries across is the single most common mistake on this property.
The questions to ask
Ask them before buying anything, not before selling anything. Jars, vinegar and a print run are all easier to specify once you know whether you may sell direct only, what the cap is and what the label must disclose. People usually ask in the other order and then find the answer changes something they have already paid for.
Read your full ingredient list out rather than summarizing it. The thing that moves a product out of an exemption, or into a stricter reading of the acidified category, is almost never the cucumber. It is the low-acid thing added for flavor: garlic, onion, peppers, or anything from a tin. Say all of it out loud and let them tell you which part matters, because they will know and you will be guessing.
- Is a shelf-stable pickled vegetable on your permitted product list.
- Here is my full ingredient list. Does anything on it change the answer.
- Do you treat a fermented product differently from a vinegar pickle.
- What must my label carry, and in what type size.
- What is the annual cap and what counts towards it.