Cottage Food Law /US
A structured reference to state cottage food rules

Food category

Candy & Confections

Hard candies, toffees, brittles, and confections.

Informational only, not legal advice.

Status by state

Status comes from each state's allowed and prohibited lists, or from the state's own guidance where the lists don't settle it. "Allowed with limits" means the state allows some products in this category but not others. "Unclear" means the cited sources don't say either way.

Of the 20 states covered, 14 allow candy & confections, 4 allow it with limits, 1 prohibit it, and in 1 the official sources don't settle it.

What each state's lists say

Arizona: Yes

Allowed list:

  • Candy and confections, e.g., freeze-dried candy, fudge, toffee and brittles, caramel apples, marshmallows, cotton candy, truffles, and chocolate-dipped treats
Source: ADHS Cottage Food Program — Approved Foods · Verified Oct 5, 2026

California: Yes

Allowed list:

  • Candy and confections (e.g., fudge, toffee, brittles, chocolate-covered nonperishables)
Source: CDPH — Approved Cottage Foods List (reviewed April 2026) · Verified Sep 15, 2026

Florida: Yes

Allowed list:

  • Candies and confections
Source: FDACS — Cottage Foods (Approved Cottage Food Products) · Verified Sep 15, 2026

Georgia: Yes

Allowed list:

  • Confections
  • Popcorn, popcorn balls, and cotton candy
Source: HB 398 (2025), O.C.G.A. § 26-2-470 et seq., § 26-2-470(7) · Verified Sep 25, 2026

Illinois: Yes

Allowed list:

  • Baked goods and candy that are not time/temperature control for safety (TCS) foods may contain dairy (e.g., caramel, buttercream frosting)
Source: 410 ILCS 625/4 (Food Handling Regulation Enforcement Act, Sec. 4), subsec. (a), (b)(1.5)–(3), (12), (14) · Verified Sep 25, 2026

Indiana: Yes

Allowed list:

  • Candy (e.g., hard candy, cotton candy, candy apples, caramel apples), fudge, and chocolates (e.g., truffles, ganache, hot chocolate bombs)
  • Dehydrated and dried fruits (all varieties except melons); freeze-dried fruits and confectionery items no larger than a small marble
Source: Indiana Department of Health — Indiana Home-Based Vendor Handbook (Summer 2025) · Verified Oct 21, 2026

Maryland: Yes, with limits

Allowed list:

  • Non-perishable candies (e.g., brittles, gummy bears, hard candies, lollipops, toffee, and marshmallows with non-potentially hazardous ingredients); freeze-dried non-potentially hazardous commercial candies
  • Chocolate confections made from commercially manufactured chocolate or commercial non-potentially hazardous ingredients (e.g., chocolate-covered nuts, pretzels, marshmallows, dried fruits, and caramels; peanut butter cups), with all fillings from a commercial source
Source: MDH Office of Food Protection — Guidelines for Cottage Food Businesses (Last Updated 11/2025), Appendix A · Verified Oct 21, 2026

Prohibited list:

  • Soft candies such as homemade caramels and homemade fudge; chocolates with homemade or potentially hazardous fillings; chocolate confections made from raw cocoa beans; chocolate- or candy-covered fresh or canned fruit
  • Freeze-dried products of any kind except non-potentially hazardous commercial candy; home dehydrating or freeze-drying of fruits, vegetables, vegetable chips, herbs, spices, or pasta
Source: MDH Office of Food Protection — Guidelines for Cottage Food Businesses (Last Updated 11/2025), Appendix B · Verified Oct 21, 2026

Massachusetts: Yes

Massachusetts allows any cottage food not on its prohibited list, and no candy & confections item is on it. Source: 105 CMR 590.000 (Massachusetts Retail Food Code), as published by MDPH, § 590.001(C) ("Cottage Food Products") · Verified Oct 21, 2026

Michigan: Yes, with limits

Allowed list:

  • Confections and candies made without alcohol (e.g., hard candies, cotton candy, maple candy, freeze-dried candy, chocolate-covered pretzels or fruit)
Source: MDARD — Cottage Food: What Can I Make? · Verified Sep 25, 2026

Prohibited list:

  • Confections that contain alcohol (e.g., truffles or liqueur-filled chocolates), and caramel apples
Source: MDARD — Cottage Food: What Can I Make? · Verified Sep 25, 2026

Missouri: Unclear

Candy is not one of the foods covered by Missouri's Cottage Law; DHSS says baked goods, canned jams or jellies, and dried herbs and herb mixes are the only items, and other foods cannot be sold under it. DHSS says freeze-dried, non-potentially hazardous foods (example: candy) may fall under the separate exemption in the Missouri Food Code, but only where local laws allow, as determined by the local public health agency.

Source: Missouri DHSS — Missouri Home-Based Kitchen Food Production Guidance (Aug. 2023) · Verified Oct 21, 2026

Source: Missouri Food Code (19 CSR 20-1.025), as published by DHSS, Ch. 1, "Food establishment" (3)(h) · Verified Oct 21, 2026

New Jersey: Yes, with limits

Allowed list:

  • Candy (e.g., brittle, toffee, bark, caramels, marshmallows, chocolates, candy bars, cereal treats, packaged cotton candy)
Source: NJDOH — Cottage Food: Approved Food Products · Verified Oct 5, 2026

Prohibited list:

  • Cotton candy made or spun on site, chocolate-covered fresh fruit (e.g., chocolate-covered strawberries), candy apples, and candied fruits or vegetables
Source: NJDOH — Cottage Food: Prohibited Food Products · Verified Oct 5, 2026

New York: Yes, with limits

Allowed list:

  • Peanut brittle, granola, trail mix, and granola bars (commercially roasted nuts)
  • Waffle cones and pizzelle; toffee or caramel apples (no chocolate or candy melts)
  • Sugar confections (toffees, caramels, hard candies)
Source: NY Dept. of Agriculture & Markets — Home Processing (Approved Home Processed Foods) · Verified Sep 15, 2026

Prohibited list:

  • Tempered chocolate or candy melts for dipping or coating (e.g., cocoa bombs, chocolate candy, chocolate-covered fruit)
Source: NY Dept. of Agriculture & Markets — Home Processing (Prohibited Foods) · Verified Sep 15, 2026

North Carolina: Yes

Allowed list:

  • Candy
  • Freeze-dried candy
Source: NCDA&CS Food & Drug Protection — Home Processor (Step 1) · Verified Sep 25, 2026

Ohio: Yes

Allowed list:

  • Candy (including no-bake cookies and chocolate-covered pretzels), not including fresh fruit dipped in or combined with candy
  • Granola, granola bars, and candy-dipped granola bars (any fruit must be commercially dried)
  • Waffle cones, including candy-dipped
Source: Ohio Adm. Code Chapter 901:3-20, rule 901:3-20-04 · Verified Sep 15, 2026

Pennsylvania: Yes

Allowed list:

  • Candy (e.g., fudge, caramels, truffles, cotton candy, lollipops, chocolates, hard candy); chocolate-covered fruit only with whole, uncut fruit at pH 4.6 or below
Source: PDA Application Packet — Limited Food Establishments (Rev 10-2024), pp. 11–16 · Verified Sep 25, 2026

Tennessee: Yes

Tennessee allows any cottage food not on its prohibited list, and no candy & confections item is on it. Source: 2025 Tenn. Pub. Acts ch. 431 (SB 484 / HB 130), amending T.C.A. § 53-1-118, § 4 (T.C.A. § 53-1-118(b)(3)) · Verified Oct 5, 2026

Texas: Yes

Texas allows any cottage food not on its prohibited list, and no candy & confections item is on it. Source: Texas DSHS — Texas Cottage Food Production · Verified Sep 15, 2026

Virginia: Yes

Allowed list:

  • Candies, cotton candy, popcorn, and popcorn balls
Source: VDACS — Virginia's Home Food Processing Exemptions FAQ (Rev. Jul 2026) · Verified Oct 5, 2026

Washington: Yes

Allowed list:

  • Candies cooked on a stovetop or in a microwave, using a candy thermometer: molded candies and chocolates, candy- or chocolate-coated products, fudge, caramels, nut brittles, taffy, and marshmallow-like candies
  • Low-risk freeze-dried foods (e.g., candy) made from allowed products
Source: Washington State Dept. of Agriculture — Cottage Food · Verified Oct 5, 2026

Wisconsin: No

Homemade candy is not a baked good, so it needs a DATCP license. The Court of Appeals reversed the 2022 order that had covered unbaked homemade foods such as fudges and candies (2024 WI App 69), and DATCP says the court orders "apply only to 'baked goods.'"

Source: DATCP — Licenses and Homemade Baked Goods · Verified Oct 21, 2026

Source: Wisconsin Cottage Food Ass'n v. DATCP, 2024 WI App 69 (Wis. Ct. App. Nov. 19, 2024), ¶¶6, 39 · Verified Oct 21, 2026

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