It's been about a decade since Illinois' Home-to-Market law went into effect, allowing food entrepreneurs and home cooks to sell their food or drinks to the public.
Since then, interest in locally sourced food has only grown, and many stuck-at-home home chefs found or rekindled their passion for cooking during the pandemic. That’s a recipe for more cottage food operations starting up across Illinois.
Jenna Smith is a nutrition and wellness educator with University of Illinois Extension based in Bloomington. She guides would-be food entrepreneurs and actually helped shape some recent changes to Illinois’ Home-to-Market law.
One of the most important recent changes expanding where people can sell their products, she said.
“It used to be that you could only sell through farmers’ markets. That’s now been opened to more than just farmers’ markets,” Smith said. “Now, cottage food entrepreneurs can actually sell at fairs or festivals, even a roadside stand. They can sell in their own homes. And they can sell directly to consumers online.”
Smith said she’s often asked what can legally be sold – and what can’t. Extension’s website includes a list of prohibited foods, largely based on the risk of food-borne illness.
But state law has loosened up in recent years to allow more items, such as fermented hot sauce and fermented crock pickles. And good news for bakers: Buttercream icing is no longer prohibited.
“There are so many people that want to have their buttercream icing on their cupcakes or whatever it might be,” Smith said. “Before, it was considered to be dairy – and nope, you can’t have dairy. Now, we’ve amended that law to where, yes, buttercream is allowed. Because for the most part, it’s shelf-stable.”
Extension offers many resources for those interested in launching a cottage food business, including a self-paced online course and an operator checklist.
“I’m always just amazed, honestly, by the creativity of a lot of the entrepreneurs who are out there,” Smith said. “They think of things I would have never thought of!”
