Near the end of the October 31 Night Thread @Miguel_Sanchez_Again was lamenting not being able to eat Irish sourdough on the regular after returning home. The topic of cottage food operations came up as I’ve met several folks doing this at the farmers markets I worked at this past summer (sidenote- so glad I’m not getting out of bed at 4am now!). This is Illinois so I’m not sure which other states have a similar license.

Most of the cottage operators I met were bakers- chiefly sourdough. There were a few others who did dehydrated fruits and veggies along with people doing preserves and pickled things. Many of them displayed signs saying they ran a cottage kitchen that isn’t subject to health department inspections and there may be exposure to allergens in their product. I didn’t see any of them saying they were a peanut (or other allergen) free household though.

FYI this is the baker I know in a promo video from the Oak Park market (video is from a couple years ago, his daughter is much taller now).