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dried tomatoes/peppers
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Posted by mbrown297 (My Page) on Sun, Aug 22, 04 at 5:47
| Does anyone have any experience with selling dried tomatoes or peppers? I'm thinking of things to sell once the garden season is over. |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: dried tomatoes/peppers
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| no selling experience but i was told i need a certified kitchen here in VA to sell dried tomatoes...but dried hot peppers are probably a different story since they dont need to be sliced in any way to dry them. |
RE: dried tomatoes/peppers
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Anything "altered" from the garden usually requires a certified kitchen. I've looked into it here in Indiana as well and if it's not sold "fresh", then I must have a certified kitchen to process (in this case dry) the vegetables before marketing.
Indeed, we market folks could have a longer season if we could do simple things such as drying for public consumption.
Check with your state health department to see if you have the same requirement.
DD |
RE: dried tomatoes/peppers
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I don't think dried peppers would be considered altered. They can dry right on the plant then picked. Although You could make wreaths or strings and sell them as a "craft" . I put peppers on my garlic braids as decorations. By the way garlic braids are considered fresh produce "not altered" and peppers would be too unless you ground them up and packaged them
GL |
RE: dried tomatoes/peppers
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Like I said, check your local regulations. In Indiana, you can't dry peppers on the plant... it's too humid. If you use a dehydrator, then you've altered the natural state of the pod. It's considered under the umbrella of "cooking". Most states cooler than zone 8 can't dry tomatoes without extra mechanical help of some sort.
I agree that garlic is okay because it can be harvested in a dry stage as well as pulled and dried. That's no different than letting onions naturally "cure" before selling them. But, many states have extremely picky rules regarding what market farmers can/cannot do...and some are even unfair. For instance, here in Indiana, if you were making jams, jellies, pickles, etc. in your home kitchen for public sale before 1999, you can still do so without a commercial kitchen. Anybody starting 2000 MUST have a commercial kitchen... and yes, they do check.
Best wishes!
DD |
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