Cottage food laws · New Hampshire

Selling homemade food in New Hampshire.

New Hampshire calls a home food seller a “homestead food operation,” and it gives you two doors. Door one is genuinely free — no license, no fee, no registration, no inspection, no training, and no sales cap — for shelf-stable goods sold from your home, your own farm stand, a farmers’ market, or a retail food store. Door two is a $150-a-year Class H license, and it buys one thing the free door won’t: the right to sell online, by mail, to restaurants, and to wholesalers. The catch on both: nothing that needs refrigeration. Here’s the whole picture, in plain English.

Verified against New Hampshire RSA 143-A, the N.H. administrative rules (He-P 2300) and N.H. DHHS Food Protection

Last checked June 13, 2026 — every section links its sources.

A friendly guide, not legal advice — we’re not lawyers. Always confirm the details with your own city and state before you sell.

A sunlit front porch with fresh loaves on a table and an OPEN sign

The 2-minute version

Three cards, the whole story. Everything below is detail — with the actual laws linked, so you never have to take our word for it.

Selling shelf-stable goods?

That’s the exempt homestead food operation — fully exempt from New Hampshire licensing and inspection. Put the right label on cookies, breads, cakes, jams, candy, or properly acidified pickles and sell straight to your neighbors — from your home, your own farm stand, a farmers’ market, or a retail food store. No registration, no fee, no training.

$0 to startNo licenseNo inspectionNo sales cap

Want to sell online or ship?

That takes a Class H homestead license — $150 a year and one kitchen inspection. The $150 buys you channels, not refrigerated foods: the right to sell online, by mail order, to restaurants, and to wholesalers. Same shelf-stable food list as the free tier.

$150/yearOne inspectionOnline + mail OKRestaurants & wholesale

Want to sell cheesecake?

A cheesecake needs refrigeration, which makes it a “potentially hazardous food” New Hampshire’s homestead program excludes on both tiers. Paying the $150 doesn’t unlock it — refrigerated foods need a full food-service license outside the homestead scheme entirely.

Fails both tiersNeeds refrigerationOutside the program
Sound doable? Show me the steps ↓Meet the New Hampshire porch bakers already doing it

Two ways to sell in New Hampshire — pick your path

In shortThe two homestead tiers split on one question: who do you want to sell to? The food list is the same on both — shelf-stable only. The free door limits you to home, your own farm stand, farmers’ markets, and retail food stores. The $150 Class H door opens the internet, the mailbox, restaurants, and wholesale.

New Hampshire’s two homestead paths split cleanly on one question: who do you want to sell to? The food list is the same on both — shelf-stable only. The free door limits you to four kinds of place; the $150 door opens the internet, the mailbox, and other businesses. The cleanest way to see it: a batch of cookies can be sold either way, but only the Class H license lets you take those cookies online or to a restaurant. Same kitchen, two answers — and the difference you’re paying for is the channel, not the food.

Path A · most porch shops start here$0 to start

Exempt homestead food operation

You’re exempt from state licensing and inspection — no application, no fee, no registration, no inspection, no training, and no sales cap. You make shelf-stable food in your own home kitchen, label it correctly, and sell it directly to the buyer.

The hard line: that’s the whole venue list — your home, your own farm stand, farmers’ markets, and retail food stores. No online orders, no mail order, no selling to restaurants or wholesalers.

Pick this path if: everything you make is shelf-stable, and you sell it face-to-face — at home, at your own farm stand, at a farmers’ market, or on a local store’s shelf.

Path B · the internet + sell-through door$150/year

Class H licensed homestead operation

Apply to N.H. DHHS Food Protection for a Class H homestead license, pass a kitchen inspection, and pay $150 a year. The same shelf-stable food — but now you can also sell over the internet, by mail order, to restaurants and other retail food establishments, and to wholesalers, brokers, or distributors who resell it. There’s still no sales cap.

The thing to understand: the $150 buys selling channels, not refrigerated foods. The no-refrigeration rule is identical on both tiers.

Pick this path if: you want to take internet or mail orders, ship within the state, sell to a restaurant, or sell wholesale for resale.

The load-bearing difference is the internet. If you want to sell online or by mail order, the free exempt path doesn’t allow it — that single capability is what the $150 Class H license buys. And the cheesecake test fails both: a refrigerated cheesecake is a potentially-hazardous food the program excludes on every tier, so the $150 is about channels (online, mail, restaurants, wholesale), not about unlocking refrigerated foods — those need a full food-service license outside the homestead program. Freeze-dried fruits, vegetables, or commercially prepared dairy are their own special case: even from your own home they require a license under RSA 143-A:4, not the exemption.

Sources: RSA 143-A:12 · RSA 143-A:5 · RSA 143-A:4 · He-P 2304.05 (Class H fee) · N.H. DHHS — Homestead Food Operations

Where you can sell

In shortExempt: four kinds of place, sold directly to the buyer — your home, your own farm stand, farmers’ markets, and retail food stores. The Class H license adds everything the exemption blocks: online, mail order, restaurants, and wholesale for resale.

Exempt homestead — four kinds of place, direct to the buyer. From your homestead residence (your own home), at your own farm stand, at farmers’ markets, and at retail food stores. The rules frame exempt sales as “directly to the consumer” at those venues. The hard boundary: that’s the entire exempt venue list — no internet, no mail order, no selling to restaurants, no wholesale. Those require the Class H license.

Class H licensed — everything above, plus the channels the exemption blocks. Sell to restaurants and other retail food establishments, over the internet, by mail order, and to wholesalers, brokers, or other food distributors who will resell your product.

Shipping out of state isn’t resolved by any New Hampshire source. The statute lets a licensed operation sell “by mail order” without naming a state line, but no New Hampshire source addresses shipping across state lines — and once a package leaves the state you’re in federal (FDA) territory plus the destination state’s rules. Confirm the federal side before you build on out-of-state shipping.

Craft fairs and festivals aren’t named in the exempt venue list. Whether DHHS treats a craft-fair table as a “farmers’ market” or as a separately permitted temporary food event isn’t spelled out in anything official we found — ask DHHS Food Protection before you book one. And note the store wrinkle: a store shelf is in the exempt venue list, but selling to a store that resells your goods is the licensed path — see the FAQ.

Sources: RSA 143-A:12 · He-P 2300 rules · N.H. DHHS — Homestead Food Operations

What you can sell

In shortThe shelf-stable rule is the same on both tiers: any food except “potentially hazardous food,” which folds in low-acid canned goods. A 2024 change legalized properly acidified foods (pickles, vinegars). Cheesecake fails both tiers; freeze-dried foods are their own license.

Both tiers — the shelf-stable rule

A homestead food product is “all food except potentially hazardous food.” “Potentially hazardous food” means anything that needs temperature control for safety — and the statute specifically folds in low-acid canned foods. So nothing refrigerated, nothing that needs hot- or cold-holding, and no low-acid home canning.

  • Breads, rolls & muffins
  • Cookies, brownies & cakes
  • Double-crusted fruit pies
  • Candy & fudge
  • Packaged dry products (spices, herbs)
  • Jams & jellies
  • Properly acidified pickles, vinegars & mustards

Acidified foods are new — and the rules haven’t caught up. Until 2024, “processed acidified” foods were banned; 2024 chapter 77 (HB 1565) deleted that ban, so properly acidified pickles, vinegars, mustards, and similar products are now allowed. The administrative rules still print the old ban — that’s one of the stale spots; the statute controls. An honest open question — the six-category list. The statute says homestead products are all non-hazardous food “and as defined in rule,” but the rules still enumerate only six categories (baked goods; double-crusted fruit pies; candy and fudge; packaged dry products; acid foods; jams and jellies). So whether something shelf-stable but outside those six — roasted nuts, granola, chocolate-covered pretzels — is allowed on the exempt path is genuinely unsettled until DHHS updates its rules. DHHS’s web guidance phrases its list as examples, not a closed set. If what you make falls outside the six, ask DHHS Food Protection before you sell it.

Not allowed on either tier

  • Cheesecake & custards
  • Pumpkin pies
  • Anything refrigerated (potentially hazardous)
  • Low-acid canned goods
  • Freeze-dried foods (separate license)

A refrigerated cheesecake is a potentially-hazardous food, so it’s outside the homestead program on the free path and the $150 path. DHHS names the company it keeps — cheesecakes, pumpkin pies, custards, soups, sandwiches, and low-acid canned goods like canned gravies or some canned vegetables. Refrigerated items need a full food-service license outside the homestead scheme. Freeze-dried is its own rule: freeze-dried fruits, vegetables, and commercially prepared dairy products require an RSA 143-A:4 license even when sold from your home or farm stand — they’re not covered by the free exemption.

Sources: RSA 143-A:12 · RSA 143-A:4 · He-P 2300 rules · N.H. DHHS — Homestead Food Operations

The rules that actually matter

In shortNo sales cap on either tier (the cap was removed Oct 3, 2023). Both tiers are shelf-stable only. The exempt tier is venue-limited; the $150 Class H license unlocks the channels. Local rules can add requirements in 15 self-inspecting towns.

  • No sales cap on either tierNo dollar limit appears in RSA 143-A:12 or 143-A:5. New Hampshire used to cap the exemption — $20,000, then $35,000 — but removed the cap entirely effective October 3, 2023 (see “What changed”).
  • The exempt tier is venue-limited; the $150 license buys channelsHome, your own farm stand, farmers’ markets, retail food stores — and that’s all on the free tier. Online, mail, restaurant, and wholesale sales require the Class H license. The $150 buys selling channels, not refrigerated foods.
  • Shelf-stable only, both tiersNothing potentially hazardous (refrigerated), no low-acid canned goods, on either tier. Produce in your primary residence — the homestead license covers your own home kitchen or home food-production area, not a rented commercial space — and a Class H license isn’t transferable.
  • Local rules can add requirements — 15 self-inspecting townsNew Hampshire has 15 self-inspecting cities and towns — Bedford, Berlin, Claremont, Concord, Derry, Dover, Exeter, Keene, Manchester, Merrimack, Nashua, Plaistow, Portsmouth, Rochester, and Salem — and if you operate in one, DHHS says to check with the town, because local health authorities can layer their own requirements on top of the state scheme. (A 2026 bill, SB 418, would strip that local authority over homestead sellers; we couldn’t confirm it became law, so assume your town’s rules still apply — see “What changed.”)

Sources: RSA 143-A:12 · RSA 143-A:5 · RSA 143-A:4 · N.H. DHHS — Homestead Food Operations

Getting set up

In shortPath A is nothing to file — confirm your products are shelf-stable, meet the basic kitchen conditions, and label them. Path B is a DHHS application (with a sample label + product list), a $150 fee, and a kitchen inspection, renewed yearly.

Path A — Exempt homestead (nothing to file)

  1. Confirm everything you sell is shelf-stableNo refrigerated / potentially hazardous food, no low-acid canning. Properly acidified pickles and similar products are fine since the 2024 change.
  2. Meet the basic kitchen conditionsA handwashing station with hot and cold running water and soap; equipment and food storage that prevents contamination; cleanable, sanitizable food-contact surfaces; general sanitation; and the ability to keep pets out of the area during food production. Commercial kitchen equipment is expressly allowed if it can be cleaned and sanitized there.
  3. Label your products correctlyThe exempt elements, including the verbatim statement — copy the sample below.

That’s it — no application, no fee, no registration, no inspection, no training. DHHS may inspect only if it has reason to suspect an imminent health hazard. If you’re in one of the 15 self-inspecting towns, check with the town. (Zoning and a Secretary of State trade-name registration are separate matters outside the food law.)

Path B — Class H homestead license ($150/year)

  1. Apply to DHHS Food ProtectionSubmit the homestead-license application with one finished product label that meets the requirements and a list of all the products you’ll make. The plan-review and wastewater submissions other food establishments file are waived for homestead operations.
  2. Submit process-review documentation if it appliesJams and jellies made from a recipe not approved by the National Center for Home Food Preservation need a process review by a third-party food-processing authority before you can produce them. (No state fee — it’s a third-party cost that varies, so we don’t quote a number.)
  3. Pay the $150 annual feeHe-P 2304.05(a)(8) sets the Class H homestead fee at $150 a year.
  4. Pass a kitchen inspectionA new-license applicant arranges an inspection of the home kitchen; licensed homestead operations are held to the homestead facility standards, not the full FDA Food Code.
  5. Renew each yearDHHS tells homestead operations to contact Food Protection for a renewal invoice.

No food-handler card or food-safety course is required by the homestead statute or rules on either tier. (We couldn’t fully rule out a manager-certification requirement for a Class H licensee — the rules exempt licensed homestead operations from the Food Code and impose no training — so confirm with DHHS if that matters to you.) Questions go to N.H. DHHS Food Protection.

Sources: RSA 143-A:12 · He-P 2300 rules (application, fee, inspection) · N.H. DHHS — Homestead Food Operations

Labels

In shortBoth tiers share the same identity information — but the required statement at the bottom is different, so get your tier right first. The address can be a physical OR an e-mail address, and a phone number is required either way. The name keys to the homestead food operation.

Exempt homestead label

  • Name of the homestead food operation, its physical or e-mail address, and a phone number. New Hampshire keys the label to the operation, not necessarily an individual’s legal name.
  • The name of the product
  • Ingredients, in descending order of predominance by weight
  • Allergy information
  • The verbatim required statement: “This product is exempt from New Hampshire licensing and inspection.”
  • Home / own-farm-stand shortcut: for packages sold from your home or your own farm stand, you may swap the printed ingredient list for a QR code or website listing the ingredients — but only if a physical sign at the display also lists them. At farmers’ markets and every other venue, the full printed ingredient list is required.
Honey Wheat Sandwich Bread
Ingredients: flour (wheat), water, honey, butter (milk), yeast, salt.
Contains: wheat, milk.
Maple Lane Homestead · 123 Maple Lane, Concord, NH 03301 · (603) 555-0142
This product is exempt from New Hampshire licensing and inspection.
Exempt label — operation name, physical-or-email address, phone, and the exempt statement.

Class H licensed label

  • Name of the homestead food operation, its physical or e-mail address, and a phone number. The same noun (“the homestead food operation”) is used on both tiers.
  • The name of the product
  • Ingredients, in descending order of predominance by weight
  • Allergy information
  • The verbatim required statement: “This product is made in a residential food production area licensed by the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services.”
  • The QR-code shortcut is for home / own-farm-stand sales only; licensed sales through other channels carry the full printed label.
Sourdough Boule
Ingredients: flour (wheat), water, salt, sourdough culture.
Contains: wheat.
Maple Lane Homestead · maplelane@example.com · (603) 555-0142
This product is made in a residential food production area licensed by the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services.
Class H label — same identity info, the licensed statement (statute wording, not the stale rule string).

One thing the statute does for everyone: your address can be a physical or an e-mail address, and a phone number is required either way. Two cautions on the rules. First, the administrative rules still print the older licensed statement (“…residential kitchen licensed by NH DHHS”) — that wording is superseded; the statute’s string above is the current law, so use it. Second, the rules add a 10-point-minimum font in a contrasting color plus a product/batch code; those are rule-layer additions the statute doesn’t restate, not a statutory type-size floor — cheap to honor and possibly still enforced, so a careful porch shop can print the statute’s exact statement in clear, legible, contrasting type and add a batch code, but the binding string is the statutory one.

Sources: RSA 143-A:12 · He-P 2300 rules

What changed recently

In shortNew Hampshire rewrote its homestead law five times in 2024–25, almost always to loosen it — which is exactly why the administrative rules now trail the statute. The sales cap is gone; acidified foods are legal; labeling was overhauled. A 2026 local-preemption bill (SB 418) isn’t confirmed enacted.

  • The sales cap disappeared — Oct 3, 2023New Hampshire used to cap the exemption at $20,000 (raised to $35,000 in 2022), then removed the cap entirely effective October 3, 2023 (2023 chapter 180). There is no dollar limit today on either tier.
  • Acidified foods legalized — Aug 13, 20242024 chapter 77 (HB 1565), the “picklegate”-era fix, deleted “processed acidified” from the list of prohibited potentially-hazardous foods — so properly acidified pickles and similar products are now allowed for homestead operations.
  • Commercial equipment + a labeling overhaul — Jul 13, 20252025 chapter 18 (HB 150) expressly allowed commercial kitchen equipment in a home production area; 2025 chapter 28 (HB 304) overhauled labeling, adding the physical-or-e-mail-address option and the QR-code/website shortcut for home and own-farm-stand sales.
  • Production-area standards, then freeze-dried foods — Jul 28 & Nov 12, 20252025 chapter 46 (HB 307) refined the home food-production-area and sales-venue standards; 2025 chapter 193 (HB 505) brought freeze-dried fruits, vegetables, and commercially prepared dairy products under a required RSA 143-A:4 license, even for home and farm-stand sales. Because of all this, the He-P 2310 / 2311 administrative rules are stale in several places — the six-category food list, the old “processed acidified” ban, the physical-only address, and the older licensed-label string. The statute is current law and controls.
  • A local-preemption bill we couldn’t confirm became law — 2026SB 418, sparked by a Manchester cease-and-desist over homemade pickles, would bar municipalities from requiring licenses for homestead food production — defanging the 15 self-inspecting towns’ authority over homestead sellers. It passed the Senate and cleared a House committee unanimously in May 2026, but we could not confirm whether it was ultimately signed or chaptered. Until you confirm otherwise, assume your town’s rules still apply.

Sources: RSA 143-A:12 · RSA 143-A:5 · N.H. SB 418 (2026, tracking only)

Common questions

Can I sell cheesecake from home in New Hampshire?
No — not on either homestead path. A cheesecake needs refrigeration, so it’s a “potentially hazardous food” the homestead program excludes whether you’re exempt or hold the $150 Class H license. Refrigerated foods need a full food-service license outside the homestead scheme. Here, paying the $150 doesn’t unlock refrigerated foods — it unlocks selling channels (online, mail, restaurants, wholesale).
What does the $150 Class H license actually buy me?
Selling channels the free path won’t allow: online, mail order, restaurants and other retail food establishments, and wholesale. The food list and the no-refrigeration rule are the same on both tiers — the $150 buys channels, not refrigerated foods.
Can I sell my cookies online or ship them from New Hampshire?
Not on the free exempt path — internet and mail-order sales require the Class H license. With the license you can sell online and by mail within New Hampshire; shipping across state lines pulls in federal (FDA) rules no state source resolves, so confirm that separately before you ship out of state.
Is there a limit on how much I can sell in New Hampshire?
No. New Hampshire removed its sales cap entirely on October 3, 2023, and there’s no dollar limit on either tier today.
Can a store carry my goods in New Hampshire?
A store shelf is in the exempt venue list (“at retail food stores”), so an exempt homestead operation can sell that way — but the rules frame exempt sales as direct to the consumer, and how an exempt seller works through a store (consignment, an in-store table) versus selling to a store for resale isn’t spelled out in anything official we found. If a store wants to buy from you and resell, that’s the licensed Class H path. Ask DHHS how your specific arrangement is treated.
Can I sell pickles or salsa from home in New Hampshire?
Properly acidified pickles and similar products are now allowed — 2024 chapter 77 removed the old “processed acidified” ban. Low-acid canned goods (canned vegetables, canned gravies) are still prohibited because they’re potentially hazardous. The administrative rules still print the old acidified ban, but the statute controls.
Do I need a food-safety class or a food-handler card in New Hampshire?
None that we found — neither the homestead statute nor the homestead rules require training on either tier. We couldn’t fully rule out a manager-certification requirement for a Class H licensee, so confirm with DHHS if that matters to you.
Can I sell freeze-dried snacks from home in New Hampshire?
Only with a license — freeze-dried fruits, vegetables, and commercially prepared dairy require an RSA 143-A:4 license even from your own home or farm stand; they’re not in the free exemption.
Can my kid run a stand in New Hampshire?
Yes — there’s no special kid exemption, but the free exempt homestead path has no minimum age, so a young person selling shelf-stable cookies, breads, or candy from the porch fits it like anyone else, label and all.
My town has its own food rules — do those still apply in New Hampshire?
If you’re in one of the 15 self-inspecting towns (Manchester, Concord, Nashua, Portsmouth and others), yes — check with the town, because local authorities can add requirements. A 2026 bill (SB 418) would end that for homestead sellers, but we couldn’t confirm it became law, so don’t count on it yet.

Sources: RSA 143-A:12 (Homestead Food License Required) · RSA 143-A:5 (Exemptions — sales-cap removal) · RSA 143-A:4 (License Required — freeze-dried / refrigerated) · N.H. DHHS — Homestead Food Operations

You won’t be doing this alone

14 porch bakers are already selling across New Hampshire under these exact laws. Browse their pages and learn from people two steps ahead of you — what they sell, how they price, how they talk about their bread. Cottage bakers are famously generous with what they’ve learned, and most are a DM away on Instagram.

See all 14 in the directory →List your porch shop — always free to list

This page is educational, not legal advice — we’re not lawyers, just neighbors who read New Hampshire’s official sources and wrote down what they say (every claim above links to its source). New Hampshire rewrote its homestead-food statute five times in 2024–2025, and the state’s administrative rules haven’t fully caught up — so on a handful of points (the allowed-food list, acidified foods, the address format, and the licensed-label wording) this page follows the statute, which is the current law, over the older He-P 2310/2311 rules. The two homestead tiers carry the same food list but different selling channels and a different required statement on the label — make sure you know which tier you’re on. We don’t quote a price for a process review (a third-party cost) or for a freeze-dried license (the state hasn’t published which fee class applies), and we don’t claim out-of-state shipping is settled. If you operate in one of the 15 self-inspecting towns, local rules may apply — check with your town. Always double-check the details with your own city and state before you sell. When something here and the law disagree, the law wins; if you spot that happening, tell us and we’ll fix it.