It is important to learn and follow safe home food preservation methods. There are risks to almost every method, but canning, pickling, and fermentation carry some specific risks. Here the Connecticut home food preserver will find links to information, methods, and recipes from sources that are based on science and have a reputation for researching recipes and methods to insure that they are safe for the home food preserver.
You may have some old favorite recipes that have been passed down over the generations. While some may be perfectly safe (particularly those for jams, jellies, and preserves), others may pose a greater health risk. By sticking to the methods and recipes provided here, you will be less likely to waste precious ingredients or make someone sick.
Keep in mind that your home preserved foods will likely not have the attributes of commercially preserved products. Sometimes that is good—jams and jellies taste fresher—and sometimes it is not—we do not have the ability to blast freeze our fruits and vegetables at home, so the quality cannot match what you buy from the grocery store freezer. It is important to have realistic expectations about home food preservation.
Home Food Preservation Resources, Links, Information
Selling home preserved foods
It seems that everyone has a favorite salsa, chili sauce, wine jelly or “secret sauce.” You may dream of turning that special recipe into the next big that that will make you millions or-- at the very least--enough to eat dinner out once in a while!
BUT, did you know that it is against Connecticut law to prepare or process food for sale in an unlicensed kitchen?
There are a few exceptions to the law, but for most part, home cooks are not allowed to sell food they have prepared in their home kitchens. Exceptions include:
• Foods prepared at residential farms
• Under certain conditions, the law allows the sale of jams, jellies, preserves, and acidified food products on a residential farm. The law applies to food prepared (1) with fruit or vegetables grown on the farm and (2) in a room on the farm that is used as living quarters.
For information on processing in and selling food products from a residential farm kitchen, go here.
• Maple Syrup. The law allows preparation and sale of maple syrup at residential farms in rooms used as living quarters.
To find out more about these regulations, contact the Connecticut State Department of Consumer Protection Food Program at 860-713- 6160.