California:It’s now legal to sell home-cooked food — but there’s a catch

Jan. 1 was supposed to be the date when, thanks to a new law, California cooks could apply to their local health department for permits to sell food cooked in their home kitchens. But because of the wording in AB626, which Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law in September, cooks may have to wait months or years for the opportunity to do so.The Homemade Foods Operations Act, introduced by Assemblyman Eduardo Garcia, D-Coachella (Riverside County), is the widest-reaching “cottage food” law in the country. It extends the state’s 2012 California Homemade Food Act to allow home cooks to sell prepared foods such as hot stews and frozen dumplings in addition to jams, candies and other so-called low-risk foods.The law targeted small operations by limiting the amount of money home-based culinary businesses could gross to $50,000 per year.