Colorado's cottage food law, the Colorado Cottage Foods Act, changes on January 1, 2027. Until then, a home cook can make foods that don't need refrigeration, baked goods, jams, tortillas, candy, pickles at pH 4.6 or below, after a food safety course, and sell them directly to consumers in Colorado, up to $10,000 in net revenue for each product. There's no registration and no inspection. From 2027, the Tamale Act (HB26-1033) adds a yearly registration with the state health department, raises the limit to $150,000 in gross revenue a year in total, and lets a home kitchen sell one type of refrigerated food, tamales, burritos or tortas, in up to five variations. Both years, sales are direct to an informed consumer, never to restaurants or grocery stores, and every product is labeled with a disclaimer. In the example below, a Grand Junction cook sorts six products and plans for 2027. Below are the rules for each year, the label, the example, and a free checklist.
The short version
- Take a food safety course first: CSU Extension's cottage food class, a food handler card, or a local health agency's course.
- 2026: foods that don't need refrigeration; up to $10,000 in net revenue for each product; no registration.
- From January 1, 2027: register with CDPHE every year; up to $150,000 in gross revenue a year, adjusted for inflation.
- From 2027: one refrigerated food type, such as tamales, in up to five variations, with a time and temperature course.
- Sell directly to the consumer, in person or online, in Colorado; never to restaurants or grocery stores, never for resale.
- Label: product name, your name and address, phone or email, the date made, ingredients, and the home kitchen disclaimer; a placard at the point of sale.
- TaroStack keeps each batch's lot and production date, and sales by product. More below.
The rules, 2026 and 2027
| Rule | Through December 31, 2026 | From January 1, 2027 |
|---|---|---|
| Registration | None | With CDPHE every year, listing the foods you expect to sell |
| Training | A food safety course, kept in good standing | The same, plus a time and temperature course for refrigerated food |
| Foods | Not potentially hazardous | The same, plus one refrigerated food type in up to five variations |
| Limit | $10,000 in net revenue for each eligible product | $150,000 in gross revenue a year in total, adjusted for inflation |
| Meat | Not allowed | Only in the refrigerated food, federally inspected or exempt |
| Transport of refrigerated food | Not applicable | Held at temperature, moved once, two hours at most |
| Never | Sauces, condiments, meat products, cream fillings | Also raw milk, low-acid canned food, refrigerated fermented or acidified foods, alcohol, cannabinoids, curing and reduced oxygen packaging |
The 2026 rules are on CDPHE's Cottage Foods Act page, which notes, for example, that blueberry and banana muffins each get their own $10,000. The 2027 rules are in the signed HB26-1033; CDPHE's Tamale Act page is collecting guidance before it takes effect. This is general information, not legal advice.
What you can make
Eligible, per CDPHE: pickled fruits and vegetables at pH 4.6 or below, spices, teas, dehydrated and freeze-dried produce, nuts and seeds, honey, jams, jellies, preserves, fruit butter, flour, baked goods such as muffins, fruit pies, cookies and cakes, candies such as fudge and cotton candy, fruit empanadas, tortillas, roasted coffee, and buttercream made with ghee or vegetable oil. Up to 250 dozen eggs a month can be sold too. Not eligible: meat in any form, even as a topping; cream, custard or meringue fillings; buttercream made with butter; sauces, condiments and hot sauce; beverages; pumpkin, sweet potato and cream pies; cut fruit and juices; pepper jellies with fresh peppers; freeze-dried meals; anything with CBD or THC. Which foods need refrigeration is in TCS foods list.
The label
| Line | What it says |
|---|---|
| Product | The name of the product |
| Producer | Your name, the address where it was made (the county, from 2027), and a phone number or email |
| Date | The date the food was produced |
| Ingredients | A complete list |
| Disclaimer | Made in a home kitchen not subject to state licensure or inspection, and may contain common food allergens |
| From 2027 | Your CDPHE registration number, and the department's website line |
At the point of sale, a placard, sign or card says: "This product was produced in a home kitchen that is not subject to state licensure or inspection. This product is not intended for resale." CDPHE adds that a cottage food can't be labeled allergen-free. How to work out the allergens in a recipe is in allergen matrix template.
An example: a Grand Junction cook
Grand Valley Kitchen, a made-up home cook in Grand Junction, Colorado, I use in these examples, sells at a farmers market and online, with pickup:
| Product | Allowed? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Palisade peach jam | Yes | Doesn't need refrigeration |
| Flour tortillas | Yes | Named in the law |
| Cake with butter buttercream | No | Buttercream only with ghee or vegetable oil |
| Green chile hot sauce | No | Sauces and condiments aren't eligible |
| Pork green chile tamales | From 2027 | The one refrigerated type; inspected pork; two hours' transport |
| Beef jerky | No | Meat products aren't eligible; curing stays out in 2027 |
Peach season pushed the jam to $9,200 by September, 92% of its own $10,000, while the tortillas have their own $10,000. From January, the two count together toward $150,000, and the tamales join them once Grand Valley registers and takes the time and temperature course. How a home food business starts is in how to start a cottage food business.
Get the checklist
Download the Colorado cottage food checklist. Three sheets: the label, each line with a column for yours; products, each with whether it's allowed and why; and one product's sales by month against 2026's $10,000, red past 90%. It's an ordinary Excel file with no macros, and it works in Google Sheets, LibreOffice and Numbers.
Where this stops working
In 2026 the limit is counted product by product; in 2027 it's one total, and refrigerated tamales come with cooking, cooling and holding temperatures the state can ask about. Both need sales by product and each batch's date, from the same records.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack keeps each batch's lot and production date, and sales by product.
Each batch dated. A batch of tamales or jam gets a lot with its production and best-before dates, and lot labels print with them, so the production date the label needs comes from the batch.
Sales by product. Orders record which product sold, so each product's 2026 total and the 2027 total come from the same records, and every list exports to CSV; TaroStack connects to Square for market sales.
Recipes by version. The five tamale variations are five recipes, each versioned, so each batch records which one it was made from.
| The job | Notebook | In TaroStack |
|---|---|---|
| The production date | Handwritten | From the batch's lot |
| Each product's sales | Added up by hand | From the orders, exported to CSV |
| Which variation a batch was | Remembered | A recipe version on the batch |
Lots, batches, versioned recipes and orders 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.