how many peppers per oz are there?

I do $3 for a sandwich bag but no one ever buys them. The flakes when ground are extremely tasty. I sell those too.

Randy, I think there would be about 25 peppers per oz.

that's a lot of peppers for $3. do you dry them in a food dryer or air dry them? i'd want at least $5 for an oz. i think it would be a tough thing to sell at my market.

I use a food dryer. These are ripe red Padron peppers that resemble a jalapeno in size (but quite a bit hotter, albeit less hot than a cayenne).
I think my market may support $5.

As the dried peppers are "almost " a value added product, why not just go all the way and grind them and all sell the powders? Seems to me like that would be more lucrative and in demand. The type of people willing to grind their own peppers are also likely growing them as well.

Your health department will let you do that? Not here! Was trying to sell dried peppers at the indoor winter market here and was told I couldn't sell them by the local health dept guy. Told I'd be fined if I continued.

They're considered "processed food" here too, I can't sell them. But Slimy is up north in CA, they have different regulations (as do different states down here in the US).

Yes, our regulations are fairly lax with respect to anything that does not contain meat, eggs or dairy.

By "not let you do that", do you mean its completely illegal or you do you mean you have to get certified/licensed?

I always wondered why the latter stopped people? Its not a road block. Its an opportunity.

Hey Slimy, I'm growing Jalapenos to make my own Chipotle peppers. The dried out peppers will sell no doubt (I see the demand here), but I think it'll be more profitable to take it a step further and smoke them and then put them in a spice grinder to make Chipotle powder. That way people can make their own BBQ sauces, Chipotle Mayo (huge dipping sauce here), etc etc. Might want to add that to your repertoire.

In my state, to sell a "processed food" like a dry pepper you'd have to have a commercial kitchen. I know there are additional inspections, requirements, and licenses involved for baked goods, beverages, and ice cream. I don't know about dry/dehydrated goods.

I know someone who sells dry beans and spice mixes, she has a commercial kitchen and a food packaging or resale license of some kind, but she doesn't dry the stuff herself, there may be something different/additional required for that.

It's just not worth the costs of building or renting a commercial kitchen (and getting packaging and labels printed and approved) for small amounts of things like dried peppers or refrigerated pickles, unless you start buying the produce (or have a huge farm) and do it large-scale to sell wholesale, or have multiple processed products and sell baked goods as well. Even cut, washed produce is considered "processed" so must be done in a commercial, inspected kitchen and packaged, labeled, refrigerated the whole time while at market, etc. I can't sell washed salad greens as "ready to eat" for example - though I can sell bagged lettuce mix without labels if the bags are open, and they don't have to be kept at a certain temperature. Cut-and come-again harvesting is not considered "processing" nor is hydro-cooling or washing the field dirt off.

But once I start tearing leaves into bite-sized pieces or giving it another wash so that you don't have to wash it again at home, or even put a twist-tie on the bag (except at the POS, to secure it so it doesn't spill on your way home), then I have to have a commercial kitchen. Even just having the bag closed on whole heads of lettuce (or having a closed clamshell with berries on it) requires labeling.

They said that it's not on the home based vendor approved list and would have to be prepared in a certified kitchen, and tested by the state chemist before sale of each batch, because of the possibility of mold formation or toxins. To heck with that! I have a friend with an approved kitchen, and that still wasn't enough to satisfy them. The state testing costs $50 per batch, I wouldn't even be able to make that much from a batch.
I originally asked about making hot sauce from vinegar and peppers in my friend's approved kitchen. You would have thought I pulled a knife on a small child the way they reacted. That has to be made in a state approved cannery after the recipe is approved by the state chemist. kiss that idea goodbye!

Here is a link that might be useful: indiana home based vendor rules

Dried peppers have to be tested by a chemist? I don't think we have that law but then as I said I'm not up on the dehydrated stuff.

We have an exemption for jams, jellies and acidified foods to be made in the farm kitchen, but there are additional requirements for the acidified foods, including a pH test by a lab. The law doesn't require it, but DCP is trying to push the FDA registration and process control authority approval ($$$$) too. There seems to be a loophole if the acidified food is made in a commercial kitchen - a farmer who is a friend of my sister's from HS told me that another farmer who has a commercial kitchen told him they don't even have to get the well tested, do the pH testing or take the food safety course that is required for home kitchens. I have my doubts about that but she (as well as other farms that don't have commercial kitchens, and people who aren't even farmers) are selling pickles and such. The state doesn't have the resources to enforce the laws, but if/when they do catch someone it could be really bad.

I've taken the course, just have to get the testing done but was wondering if it was really worth the hassle (of course, record-keeping wasn't required by the law, but it was pounded into us during the BPCS that we had to keep records on every batch, what vinegar/acid was used, the batch number and manufacturer of THAT, etc. in case of a recall). I might do it next year just to expand my product line since I seem to make more money (gross at least, I haven't actually figured out how much electricity and labels cost to make jam, though I know how much jars, sugar, lemon juice, etc. cost) on the preserves than the fresh produce.

I've got 21 quarts of green beans in the freezer, packaged in vacuum bags, those are for us - there's no legal way for me to sell them in this state since I blanched, froze, and packaged them in the residential farm kitchen. But even if I had canned them, there's no exemption for low-acid foods. Now, I could sell the pickled beans...

Wow, Sandy, your state is actually more permissive than ours - first, the home-based vendor (HBV) doesn't even have to be a farmer (I don't see a requirement to grow what you sell, guess that's why Marla can buy fruit for her jam). You're allowed to sell baked goods, and I see that "any of the above (fruits, veggies, baked goods) may be refrigerated or frozen" - so there I could sell my frozen beans! You can also sell candy (I think Marla does that too). Oh, the possibilities! Though I have no idea whether "pickles processed in a traditional manner" means cucumbers only, fermented or vinegar??? You might be able to make your hot sauce under that exemption - or is that what you asked and they said no? Reading further, it can't be canned (or vacuum sealed, there go my beans) so your hot sauce would have to be refrigerated.

But it also says you can't do ANYTHING in a commercial kitchen if you're a HBV, you have to pick 1 or the other, either stay HBV or go commercial.

Overall, though (pickles notwithstanding), your regulations look pretty well-defined, unlike ours.

This post was edited by ajsmama on Fri, Oct 17, 14 at 8:25

Wow, I had no idea it was so regulated down in the States. Here, any kind of fresh or dried veggie product is exempt. Food products not containing animal ingredients require only a food safety certificate and can be produced from home kitchens.

Yeah, that is nuts. Its too bad really, because you look at the spice isle in the grocery store and its filled with imported, old, stale and drab-looking spices. We KNOW they aren't grown locally or organically. The only thing going for them is fancy packaging and government backing (apparently).

To me, for my operation, herbs and peppers are the ones that interest me most. The amount of products available off of a single crop is staggering. From starter plants, established large plants, fresh-cut, dried, ground, tinctures, extracts, etc. So much value can be created in such a small space. You can really specialize in just a few (less than a dozen) plants and be successful. Not only that, as we all know, produce has a SHORT shelf life. Very short. But dried peppers and spices? The rush to flog them at the next market isn't there. You can slowly sell them, 365 days a year.

Have you had any luck growing cumin?

Not yet, but I hear its pretty easy. Like Dill, you have to keep it dry-ish. I'm going to dry it this spring/summer. Neither Stokes nor WestCoast carries the seeds, so I'll have to get some from the US I guess.