Fudge is one of the easiest foods to sell from a home kitchen: it's candy, cooked to a high sugar content, and it doesn't need refrigeration, so cottage food laws generally allow it. Michigan allows candy that doesn't need temperature control; Minnesota allows food that isn't potentially hazardous, with a yearly registration and training; North Dakota allows sales straight to the customer without a state license; and California's approved list names candy. What changes it is the add-ins: a cream cheese or fresh cream topping, or a filling that needs the fridge, takes it out. In the example below, a Michigan candy maker checks its holiday line.
The short version
- Fudge is candy: shelf-stable, so cottage food laws generally allow it.
- Michigan: allowed, prepackaged and labeled, sold straight to the customer.
- Minnesota: allowed with a yearly registration and approved training.
- North Dakota: allowed, direct to the customer.
- California: candy is on the approved list.
- Cream cheese toppings or fresh cream fillings that need the fridge aren't cottage foods.
- TaroStack keeps each customer's order and each batch's lot. More below.
Fudge, state by state
| Product | Michigan | Minnesota | North Dakota | California |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chocolate fudge | Yes | Yes, registered | Yes | Yes, on the list |
| Maple walnut fudge | Yes | Yes, registered | Yes | Yes, on the list |
| Fudge with a cream cheese topping | No: needs temperature control | No: potentially hazardous | Frozen, with labels | No: not on the list |
Making it by the kettle is in how to make fudge in bulk, and how long it keeps in fudge shelf life.
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 Michigan holiday table
Mitten Sweets, the made-up home candy maker in Traverse City, Michigan, I use in these examples, sells chocolate and maple walnut fudge at a December market, each slab wrapped and labeled with the statement Michigan requires for food made in a home kitchen. A cheesecake fudge with a cream cheese layer stayed off the table: it needs the fridge. A gift shop asked to stock the fudge; Michigan cottage food is sold straight to the customer, so the shop was told no. Pricing a slab is in fudge profit margin, and the state's rules in full in michigan cottage food law.
Get the checker
Download the home fudge 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; they don't keep track of what was. A holiday rush with six flavors, preorders and two markets is where a slab goes to the wrong customer, or a batch can't be told apart from the one before.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack keeps each customer's order and each batch's lot, and what each slab 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 slabs is a batch from its recipe, with its date and lot, and the lot goes on each order it fills.
True cost. Each slab 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 slab 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.