Dried fruit is one of the foods cottage food laws were made for: fruit dried until it's shelf-stable, with too little water left for bacteria to grow. Michigan names dried fruit among its cottage foods; California's approved list includes it; Minnesota allows food that isn't potentially hazardous, with a registration and training; and North Dakota allows sales straight to the customer. Fruit leather counts as dried fruit. What matters is that it's dried through, so it keeps without refrigeration, and labeled with the fruit, any added sugar, and allergens if nuts are mixed in. Dried fruit with a cream or yogurt coating that needs the fridge is a different story. In the example below, a California home fruit dryer gets ready for market.
The short version
- Dried fruit dried through is a cottage food in all four states here.
- Michigan and California name it; Minnesota and North Dakota allow it as shelf-stable food.
- Fruit leather counts as dried fruit.
- Dry it through: it has to keep without the fridge.
- Label the fruit, any added sugar, and nuts if mixed in.
- Coatings that need refrigeration aren't cottage foods.
- TaroStack keeps each customer's order and each batch's lot. More below.
Dried fruit, state by state
| Product | Michigan | Minnesota | North Dakota | California |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dried apricots | Yes | Yes, registered | Yes | Yes, on the list |
| Apple fruit leather | Yes | Yes, registered | Yes | Yes, on the list |
| Trail mix with dried fruit and nuts | Yes | Yes, registered | Yes | Yes, on the list |
The business beyond home is in dried fruit business plan, and what it earns in is selling dried fruit profitable.
The rules
| State | Rule |
|---|---|
| Michigan | Food that isn't time/temperature control for safety, including jams, candy, dried fruit, granola, dry mixes, vinegar, dried herbs and baked goods; not meat or poultry, milk products, beverages, salsa, or canned foods other than standardized jams (MCL 289.1105(k)); prepackaged, labeled with the home kitchen statement, sold straight to the consumer (MCL 289.4102) |
| Minnesota | Food that isn't potentially hazardous, and home-canned pickles, vegetables or fruits at pH 4.6 or lower or water activity 0.85 or less; registration every year and approved food safety training (Minn. Stat. 28A.152) |
| North Dakota | No state license for cottage food sold directly to an informed end consumer; foods that need refrigeration labeled with safe handling instructions and as transported and maintained frozen; no uninspected meat, poultry only from the seller's own birds (N.D.C.C. 23-09.5-02) |
| California | Cottage foods are nonpotentially hazardous foods on the approved list, among them baked goods without cream, custard or meat fillings, candy, chocolate-covered nonperishables, dried fruit, dried pasta, granola, herb blends, honey, standardized jams, nut butters, popcorn, vinegar and mustard, roasted coffee and dried tea (HSC 114365.5); Class A sells directly, Class B also through shops and restaurants (HSC 113758) |
This is general information, not legal advice.
An example: a California market table
Kingsburg Sun-Dried, a made-up home fruit dryer in Kingsburg, California, registered as a Class A cottage food operation and dries apricots, peaches and figs from neighbors' orchards in food dehydrators. Each batch is dried until the pieces are leathery with no moist spots, cooled, bagged and labeled. The trail mix adds almonds, so its label says tree nuts. California's rules in full are in california cottage food law.
Get the checker
Download the home dried fruit checker. Two sheets: your products, whether each needs refrigeration, is meat or poultry, a milk product, a canned food other than jam, or a drink, and whether it's on California's list; how Michigan's, Minnesota's, North Dakota's and California's cottage food laws treat it fill in; and each state's rules as read for this article. It's an ordinary Excel file with no macros, and it works in Google Sheets, LibreOffice and Numbers.
Where this stops working
The rules decide what can be sold. Three fruits from different orchards, a dehydrator running all week, and bags at two markets are where a batch that wasn't dry enough slips through.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack keeps each customer's order and each batch's lot, and what each bag costs.
Orders. Each customer's order goes in for its pickup or market day, with a picking list.
Each batch a lot. A batch of bags is a batch from its recipe, with its date and lot, and the lot goes on each order it fills.
True cost. Each bag is costed from its recipe and the batch, at what the ingredients actually cost.
| The job | Paper | In TaroStack |
|---|---|---|
| Who gets what on market day | Order sheets | Orders by day |
| Which batch went to which customer | Not recorded | Lots on each order |
| What a bag costs | A guess | True cost from the recipe and batch |
Orders, recipes and batches are on every plan, from $49 a month. The first 30 days are free, with no credit card. If you'd like a hand setting up, ask, and we'll do it with you.