Can You Sell Homemade Sauerkraut? Rules, Permits, and How to Start

Your neighbor finished the jar of caraway kraut you gave her and asked if she could buy two more. Someone at church wants a quart every month. Before you take anyone's money, you want a straight answer on whether selling sauerkraut is legal where you live.

This page gives that answer for 9 states, in each agency's own words, plus the federal line that decides why sauerkraut is treated differently from vinegar pickles. It also covers the practical part once you are allowed: permits, pH testing, labels, sales caps, and where you can and cannot sell.

Can You Sell Homemade Sauerkraut?

Your state decides, and among the 9 states whose rules we read on September 26, 2026, 4 give homemade sauerkraut a written path from a home kitchen. Wisconsin names "sauerkraut and kimchi" as allowed home-canned foods. Texas's cottage food law sets recipe, pH and batch-number rules for home kitchens that sell "fermented vegetable products" (Health and Safety Code §437.01951). Colorado tests sauerkraut pH for home kitchens at no charge, and Minnesota allows home-canned vegetables that test acidic enough. Oregon lets cabbage growers sell it with no license and offers home cooks a licensed, inspected Domestic Kitchen License, 3 states keep it out of their home-kitchen rules, and Virginia's exemption may not cover it, depending on the recipe. Washington's home rule is itself a permit, $355 for two years with a WSDA kitchen inspection, and WSDA points anyone whose food it does not allow to a Food Processor License.

The reason the answers split comes down to two questions about your jar. First, did the sour taste come from fermentation or from vinegar? Second, is the jar canned for the shelf, or raw and kept cold? State home-kitchen laws were written around canned, shelf-stable jars, so a crock of raw, living kraut does not always fit the words on the page.

Here is what the rest of this page covers:

• Why sauerkraut is a fermented food, not an acidified one, and why that matters.
• Canned or raw, because some states only cover canned jars.
• The 9 states we checked, with each rule quoted from the agency.
• Permits, pH testing, labels and caps in the states that allow it.
• Where you can sell and whether you can ship once you are legal.
• What to do if your state says no.

If your state already allows it and you want the kitchen side (making a batch, fixing a soft or moldy crock, flavors that sell), our guide on how to sell sauerkraut and fermented vegetables from home covers that. This page is the permission half.

Is Sauerkraut an Acidified Food or a Fermented Food?

Sauerkraut made with only cabbage and salt is a fermented food, and fermented foods are not covered by the federal acidified food rules, according to the Minnesota Department of Agriculture. An acidified food is a low-acid food that has acid added to it, like cucumbers covered in vinegar. Under 21 CFR 114.3, which we read on eCFR on September 26, 2026, acidified foods are "low-acid foods to which acid(s) or acid food(s) are added" with a finished pH of 4.6 or below, and the regulation even lists "cabbage" as an example. The same definition excludes "foods that are stored, distributed, and retailed under refrigeration."

The difference is where the acid comes from. In sauerkraut, bacteria that live on the cabbage turn its sugar into lactic acid while it sits in salt brine. Nobody pours acid in. The Minnesota Department of Agriculture's acidified foods page defines fermented foods as low-acid foods acted on by microorganisms "which produce acid during their growth and reduce the pH of the food to 4.6 or below." It then lists products that are not subject to the acidified rules, including "Fermented foods where the pH is reduced by natural fermentation and not by adding acid. Examples include sauerkraut, green olives, tempeh, natto, miso, kombucha, and some types of fermented pickles."

That matters for two reasons:

• Federal paperwork. A commercial maker of acidified foods registers with the FDA and files a process for each product. A true ferment skips that layer, per Minnesota's reading.
• Recipe changes. Add vinegar to speed things up and a shelf-stable jar of your kraut becomes an acidified food. The federal rule excludes foods kept refrigerated from storage through sale, but your state's pickle rules still apply. A "quick kraut" made with vinegar follows the pickle rules, not the ferment rules.

The same page says kimchi made "in the traditional manner using only fermentation" would also be exempt, but that "a product and process assessment by a Process Authority will be necessary." A process authority is a food scientist, usually at a university or a testing lab, who reviews a recipe and the way you make it and puts the verdict in writing.

None of this makes sauerkraut legal to sell from your home. Federal rules sort foods into categories; your state decides which categories a home kitchen can make.

Does It Matter Whether Your Sauerkraut Is Canned or Raw?

Yes: Wisconsin's exemption covers home-canned jars and excludes "refrigerator pickles," so the same kraut can qualify canned and fall outside the rule raw. Many state home-kitchen laws were written for canned, shelf-stable jars, and several of the rules we read say "canned" in the exact sentence that decides sauerkraut. The table sorts the common kinds of kraut by what keeps them safe and how the rules we read treat them.

Scroll sideways to see every column.

Sources: 21 CFR 114.3 on eCFR, the MDA acidified foods page, the National Center for Home Food Preservation (NCHFP) sauerkraut page, and each state agency page, all read on September 26, 2026. Your recipe and your storage decide where your own jar lands; the word "sauerkraut" does not.

Which States Let You Sell Homemade Sauerkraut From Home?

Of the 9 states in this guide, as of September 26, 2026, 4 give sauerkraut from a home kitchen a written path. Wisconsin is the only one of these 4 whose home rule names sauerkraut as allowed. Colorado names it on its pH testing list, Texas names "fermented vegetable products" in its label rule, and Minnesota's rule covers home-canned vegetables under that same pH line without naming kraut. The table covers all 9 states in each agency's words.

Swipe left to read the whole table.

We loaded each agency page on September 26, 2026: Texas DSHS Cottage Food Production, the Wisconsin DATCP home-canned foods page, CDPHE Cottage Foods, the MDA Cottage Food Law Guidance and registration pages, the ODA Farm Direct Marketing FAQ, ORS 616.683 and the ODA Domestic Kitchen License page with its October 2024 licensing requirements, the VDACS Home Food Processing Exemptions FAQ (revised July 2026), WSDA Cottage Food, the MDARD cottage food one-pager dated March 2026, and the CDPH Approved Cottage Foods list (last reviewed April 2026).

Texas gets to yes by exclusion. Its cottage food page says allowable foods "now include any foods, except for the following," and fermented vegetables are not on that short list. The page then requires "a unique number for each batch of pickled fruit or vegetables, fermented vegetable products, or plant-based acidified canned goods," and lists approved "Recipe Sources to produce acidified (pickled) and fermented foods." Our Texas cottage food law guide covers the rest of the state's rules.

Minnesota's answer needs one extra step. Its cottage food law allows "home-processed and home-canned pickles, vegetables, or fruit with a pH of 4.6 or below," which is where a canned kraut fits, but the pages we read do not name sauerkraut. Test your pH, then confirm with MDA that your jar qualifies.

Which States Say No to Homemade Sauerkraut?

Washington names canned sauerkraut as not allowed from a home kitchen, Michigan and California leave it out in other words, and Virginia's exemption flags canned fermented foods as products that may not qualify, depending on the recipe. That is 3 of the 9 states we checked on September 26, 2026, plus Virginia, where it turns on your recipe. Here is how each one puts it:

• Washington. WSDA's cottage food page lists "Canned pickled products such as corn relish, pickles, sauerkraut" among foods that are not allowable. The same list also names "Food products made from fresh fruits or vegetables," and the page's FAQ says "Food products requiring refrigeration are not allowed," so raw kraut kept cold is out too. A Washington cottage food permit costs $355 for two years and covers up to $35,000 a year of allowed foods, but kraut is not one of them.
• Michigan. MDARD's March 2026 cottage food one-pager lists "Canned fruit or vegetables" and "Pickled products" under food categories that are not allowed. It does not name sauerkraut, but its ban on "Pickled products" has no canned qualifier, so plan on raw kraut being out too and confirm with MDARD (MDARD-CottageFood@michigan.gov) before selling.
• California. The CDPH Approved Cottage Foods list has 10 categories, from breads and cookies to vinegars and mustards, and none of them covers pickled or fermented vegetables.
• Virginia. Virginia lets home kitchens sell some acidified vegetables, like pickles and relish, up to $9,000 a year. But the VDACS home food processing FAQ, revised July 2026, lists "canned fermented foods" among the products that "MAY NOT be allowed" under that exemption, and adds that "A product being included as an example below does not automatically mean it is/is not allowed" because the answer depends on the recipe. The same FAQ says home food processing operations outside the exemption are "required to be inspected, have a permit to operate, and pay an annual inspection fee of $40," so an inspected home kitchen is a Virginia route.

A no from these states is a no under their home-kitchen rules, not to your sauerkraut. The usual legal route in these states is a licensed kitchen, or in Virginia a permitted, inspected home kitchen, covered in the "What If Your State Says No?" section below.

Can Farmers Sell Sauerkraut Under Different Rules?

Yes, in Oregon a farmer who grows the cabbage can sell sauerkraut without a food processing license under the state's Farm Direct Marketing law. The ODA Farm Direct Marketing FAQ, loaded September 26, 2026, lists three kinds of "acidic foods," including "lacto-fermented fruits and vegetables (e.g., sauerkraut, dill pickles, and kimchi)." The same FAQ says lacto-fermentation "is the only type of fermentation allowed," which is why it turns away kombucha and homemade vinegar.

The cabbage has to be yours. Under this no-license Farm Direct exemption, a farmer who grows cabbage and sells kraut at a Saturday market fits; a home cook who buys cabbage at the grocery store does not. Oregon's separate Cottage Food Exemption for home kitchens (ORS 616.723) does not cover it either; ODA's Cottage Food Exemption FAQ says that exemption "does not allow the sale of pickles." That home cook's Oregon route is ODA's Domestic Kitchen License, which licenses and inspects the home kitchen and does not list fermented vegetables among its prohibited activities; its October 2024 requirements say acidified foods "might be permitted" with a process authority's analysis and an operator certified at Better Process Control School. Other states have farmer programs of their own, so if you grow the main ingredient, ask your agency whether a farm path exists alongside the cottage food law.

Do You Need a License or Permit to Sell Sauerkraut From Home?

Texas, Wisconsin and Colorado ask for no state license to sell homemade sauerkraut; Texas, Colorado and Minnesota require food safety training first, and Minnesota also wants you registered. Texas DSHS says local health departments may not require a cottage food operation to "obtain any type of license or permit" or "pay any fee" to sell directly to a consumer.

Slide the table sideways for all five columns.

From the Texas DSHS, Wisconsin DATCP, CDPHE and MDA pages, loaded September 26, 2026. Minnesota's registration page says revisions passed in the recent legislative session take effect August 1, 2027; the callout below lists the changes.

A city or county can add its own rules on top of the state's, most often zoning for home businesses. Minnesota's page says a local ordinance restricting home food businesses stops you from making and selling from your home, though you may still sell as a registered producer from a commercial kitchen, so check locally too.

Do You Have to Test the pH of Homemade Sauerkraut?

Not always by law, but testing (or, in Texas, following an approved recipe exactly) is how you show your kraut is under the line: all 5 states in this guide with a no-license home or farm path use 4.6 as the line your finished kraut must reach, Texas, Wisconsin, Colorado and Minnesota in their rules or agency pages, and Oregon in its Farm Direct FAQ. Wisconsin recommends a test, Colorado offers free testing, and Minnesota points unsure producers to a lab. Wisconsin and Colorado both use 4.6, Minnesota requires "a pH of 4.6 or below," and ODA's Farm Direct FAQ describes acidic foods as having "a pH at or below 4.6" (the statute, ORS 616.680, lists lacto-fermented foods as their own category). Texas's cottage food rule, 25 TAC §229.661(f), says a seller of fermented vegetable products must use a recipe from a DSHS-approved source, a recipe a certified lab has tested at pH 4.6 or less, or one a qualified process authority has approved, or else test each batch with a calibrated pH meter.

Three things decide how you test:

• When the kraut is done. The pH drops as it ferments. NCHFP says kraut is fully fermented in about 3 to 4 weeks at 70 to 75°F, and 5 to 6 weeks at 60 to 65°F. Test at the end, not the start.
• Which tool you use. Use an electronic pH meter. VDACS says paper strips are "NOT accurate enough to measure acidity of home-canned and home-processed foods," and that pocket-sized electronic meters cost "around $100."
• Who runs the first test. Colorado will run it for you at a state lab while its funding lasts, which is the cheapest way to confirm a recipe before you sell.

Salt does not replace acid. Salt keeps the wrong bacteria out while the good ones work, but the rules measure pH. A crock that stayed too cold to ferment, or a batch pulled early because it tasted sour enough, can sit above the line.

Can a Tested Recipe Stand In for a Lab Test?

In Texas it can: DSHS lists approved "Recipe Sources to produce acidified (pickled) and fermented foods," so you can follow one exactly instead of lab testing your own recipe. The list, loaded September 26, 2026, includes the USDA Complete Guide to Home Canning (2015 revision), the University of Georgia's So Easy to Preserve (6th edition) and three Ball books. A new recipe source needs a Request for Official Determination sent to DSHS.

The NCHFP at the University of Georgia publishes the USDA's tested sauerkraut recipe, and its numbers show how specific "tested" is:

• The batch. 25 pounds of cabbage and 3/4 cup of canning or pickling salt, worked about 5 pounds at a time with 3 tablespoons of salt per lot. (NCHFP lists both figures; 3 tablespoons per 5 pounds works out to about 15 tablespoons, a little under 1 cup, while 3/4 cup is 12.)
• The yield. About 9 quarts, which is 18 pints or 36 half pints.
• The ferment. 70 to 75°F for about 3 to 4 weeks. Below 60°F, kraut "may not ferment," and above 75°F it may turn soft.
• The canning. In a boiling water canner at 0 to 1,000 feet, 10 minutes for hot-packed pints and 15 for quarts, or 20 and 25 minutes raw-packed. Times go up with elevation.

Your family's caraway and juniper kraut may taste better, but a recipe from one of the approved books, followed exactly, is the lowest-cost way to start in Texas. Save the recipe page and the edition with your batch records.

What Goes on a Homemade Sauerkraut Label?

Every state in this guide that allows sauerkraut requires a label, and each one asks for its own home-kitchen statement, so print your state's wording exactly. The Texas DSHS page lists these for cottage foods:

• Your name and address, or the unique ID number DSHS gives you if you register.
• The common name of the product, such as "Caraway Sauerkraut."
• Any major allergen in the product, such as eggs, tree nuts, soy, peanuts, milk, wheat or sesame.
• This disclosure: "THIS PRODUCT WAS PRODUCED IN A PRIVATE RESIDENCE THAT IS NOT SUBJECT TO GOVERNMENTAL LICENSING OR INSPECTION."
• A unique batch number for "fermented vegetable products."

Wisconsin wants the name and address of the person who did the canning, the date of canning, all ingredients in descending order, and "This product was made in a private home not subject to state licensing or inspection." It also wants a sign at your table: "These canned goods are homemade and not subject to state inspection." Minnesota wants your name and registration number, or your name and address, the date the food was made, the ingredients with any allergens, and its own homemade statement, which reads almost the same as the Wisconsin sign. Oregon's farm law uses "This product is homemade and is not prepared in an inspected food establishment." Colorado's page says cottage foods must be labeled with "specific information including an exact disclaimer," and its definition of an informed end consumer lists what the buyer must be given: the product name, the address where it was made, your phone or email, the date it was made, ingredients, and a disclaimer that it came from a home kitchen not subject to licensure or inspection and may contain common food allergens.

Most kraut is just cabbage and salt, so the allergen line is usually empty. Kimchi is different: fish sauce and shrimp paste are common, and some vegan versions use soy sauce instead. In Texas and Colorado, plan on a kimchi made with fish sauce or shrimp paste being out: Texas's home rules exclude "seafood, including seafood products, fish, fish products, shellfish, and shellfish products," and Colorado bars fish and shellfish products even "as ingredients or toppings." Our cottage food label checklist walks through the general rules.

How Much Sauerkraut Can You Sell Before You Outgrow the Home Rules?

Wisconsin caps home-canned sales at $5,000 a year, while Texas lets a home kitchen gross up to $150,000, so the ceiling varies thirtyfold among the states that allow kraut. At $12 a half pint, $5,000 is about 416 jars a year, or 8 a week.

• Texas: $150,000 in annual gross income, per the DSHS page.
• Minnesota: $78,000 a year, with no registration fee if you stay at $7,665 or less, and a $50 registration fee plus a paid Tier 2 food safety course from $7,666 to $78,000.
• Oregon: farmers whose sales of these products "did not exceed $50,000" in the preceding calendar year.
• Colorado: CDPHE's FAQ, under the heading "Net revenue allowance," says you can earn up to $10,000 "for each type" of product. That is $10,000 in net revenue per product type, not a gross sales figure like the others.
• Wisconsin: "No more than $5,000 per year per person."

For most part-time vendors, the first limit is the crock, not the cap. The tested recipe takes 3 to 4 weeks at the right temperature to make 9 quarts, so a steady weekly supply means several crocks going at staggered start dates, and space somewhere that stays near 70°F.

Where Can You Sell Homemade Sauerkraut, and Can You Ship It?

You can sell in person in all 4 yes states, but only Texas, Colorado and Minnesota let you take orders online, and none of those 4 states' home rules lets you ship kraut to another state. Where you hand it over depends on the state:

• Texas. Online orders are allowed when you, an employee or a household member personally delivers the food. Before you take payment, DSHS requires you to post all the label information on the website where the customer orders. Shelf-stable kraut can also be sold wholesale to a registered cottage food vendor, who can resell it at a farmers market, a farm stand or a retail store; refrigerated (TCS) kraut cannot be sold wholesale.
• Colorado. Internet sales are allowed "as long as it does not involve interstate commerce," and the product has to go directly from you, or someone acting for you, to "an informed end consumer."
• Minnesota. Customers pick up at your home, at a booth at a farmers market or community event, or you deliver to them. A website used for ordering must carry the statement "These products are homemade and not subject to state inspection." Home-canned foods like pickles cannot cross state lines.
• Wisconsin. Only at community or social events, flea markets or farmers markets in Wisconsin. No sales from home, and no internet sales.
• Oregon farmers. Farmers markets, roadside stands and other direct venues, plus internet sales to people within Oregon. ODA's FAQ says Oregon does not stop these products from leaving the state, but "other states may restrict the sale of unlicensed products into their state."

Our guide on whether you can ship cottage food covers the general rules on mailing home-kitchen food. For sauerkraut, plan on local pickup, delivery and market tables. Those three, plus fall festivals, Oktoberfest tables and a CSA add-on, are compared jar by jar in where to sell sauerkraut, where a $12 jar costs $0.46 in card fees at a booth and $1.59 on Etsy.

In Texas, Colorado and Minnesota, most home kraut sales will be a porch pickup or a hand delivery, and a single link that collects the order and the payment keeps those handoffs straight. If your state allows it, you can set up a Homegrown storefront for sauerkraut pickup orders in about 15 minutes.

What If Your State Says No?

You can still sell sauerkraut legally, but not under the no-license home rules. Some states license and inspect a home kitchen: Virginia's VDACS says home food processing operations outside the exemption are "required to be inspected, have a permit to operate, and pay an annual inspection fee of $40," and Oregon issues a Domestic Kitchen License. Everywhere else, the common route is renting time in a licensed commercial kitchen and getting your own food processing license from the state. The steps usually look like this:

• Ask whether your state inspects home kitchens. If your agency licenses a home kitchen, as Virginia and Oregon do, you may be able to keep making kraut where you make it now, with a permit and inspections. In Oregon, the crocks and finished jars have to stay in the kitchen itself, not a basement, pantry or garage.
• Find a licensed kitchen. A shared commercial kitchen or a church or restaurant kitchen with the right license, with room to hold crocks at 70°F for 3 to 4 weeks.
• Get your recipe reviewed. A process authority confirms your recipe ferments below pH 4.6 and whether any added vinegar makes it an acidified food.
• Apply for your state license. Your state agriculture or health department licenses the food business and inspects the kitchen.
• Set up your records. Batch numbers, pH readings, dates and sales, kept the same way every batch.

Fermentation time is the hard part in a rented kitchen. Kraut sits for weeks, and shared kitchens that charge by the hour may not have room for crocks that long. Ask each kitchen about storage before you sign. Our guide on renting a commercial kitchen as a cottage food vendor covers the kitchen route in more detail.

If you are a farmer, ask your agency about farm programs before you rent a kitchen. Oregon's Farm Direct law is one example of a path that skips the license for a grower.

How Do You Take Sauerkraut Orders Once You Are Legal?

Once your state says yes, the hard part shifts from permission to logistics: knowing how many jars are spoken for before a batch is ready, since each one takes weeks. Homegrown is $10 per month billed annually ($12.50 billed monthly) with no percentage fees beyond standard payment processing, and it gives you one storefront link where customers pick a jar size, pay, and choose pickup or delivery. The table shows what three common options cost on a $10 jar.

Drag sideways to compare every fee column.

Prices come from findhomegrown.com/signup, etsy.com/sell, Etsy's Fees & Payments Policy (for the listing renewal on each sale) and shopify.com/pricing, each loaded September 26, 2026. Figures assume one $10 jar per order, no shipping charge and no sales tax. Etsy's 15% Offsite Ads fee on ad-driven sales is not included, and Etsy may charge a one-time shop set-up fee.

Etsy is built for shipping, and none of the 4 home-kitchen states in this guide lets you mail kraut across state lines, so most of what you would pay Etsy for is off the table. Shopify is a full website builder at almost three times the plan price, more than a vendor with two jar sizes and a porch pickup needs. Instagram DMs cost nothing and fall apart the week 15 people want a jar from the same crock.

For a legal home sauerkraut business, the parts of Homegrown that fit are:

• Pre-orders, so you know how many jars are claimed before the crock is ready.
• Pickup and delivery options you set, which match the personal-delivery rule in Texas and the pickup rules in Minnesota.
• Product descriptions with room for your full label text, so the Texas label information and Minnesota's homemade statement are posted before the customer pays.
• Payments at checkout, so nobody reserves a quart and forgets to come get it.

What Homegrown does not do: it does not test your pH, review your recipe, print labels or tell you whether your state allows your kraut. In Wisconsin, where the Pickle Bill bans internet sales, an online order page is not a fit for home-canned kraut at all. Customers create a Homegrown account to place their first order. Your storefront is listed on the Homegrown marketplace, but plan on most orders coming from people you send to your own link. There is no timed-release feature for a batch drop, and card processing of 2.9% + $0.30 is paid by you, with no option to pass it to the customer.

What Do Careful Sauerkraut Vendors Do Differently?

They treat each recipe as a fixed formula and keep a paper trail from the first crock. Five habits keep a home sauerkraut business inside the rules:

• Launch with 1 recipe. Every pH check and every approved-recipe claim is per recipe, so start with your best one.
• Number every batch and keep a record of each one for at least 12 months. Texas requires the batch number, the recipe, its source or test result, and the date made (25 TAC §229.661(f)(3)), and the record makes a problem traceable in any state.
• Log the pH at the end of every ferment. Date, batch number, reading and jar count, in the same notebook every time.
• Control the temperature. A spot that holds 70 to 75°F turns out kraut on schedule; a cold basement can stall it.
• Recheck the rule every year. Minnesota's law changes in August 2027, Colorado's cottage foods page says a new law, HB26-1033, begins January 1, 2027, and Virginia revised its home food FAQ in July 2026.

That count shows two things. Fermented vegetables are rare on the platform: 2 of 308 vendors list a sauerkraut or a kimchi, and one more sells pickled cabbage it pitches as a kraut substitute. And a sauerkraut hidden inside a pickles listing is hard for a shopper to find, so give yours its own listing with "sauerkraut" in the name.

How Do You Check Your Own State's Rules in One Afternoon?

You can do the reading for your own state in one afternoon by going straight to the agency and asking one specific question; the agency's written reply to your email may take days. Our state-by-state guide to cottage food laws is a starting point for finding your agency.

• Find the agency that runs your cottage food program. It is usually the state department of agriculture or health. In this guide, Texas, Colorado and California run it through health, and Wisconsin, Minnesota, Oregon, Virginia, Washington and Michigan through agriculture.
• Search the page for "sauerkraut," "ferment," "pickled" and "canned." A list that names sauerkraut ends the question. If it only says "pickled products" or "canned vegetables," canned kraut probably falls under it.
• Read the not-allowed list, then the allowed list. The not-allowed list is usually clearer.
• Email the agency your recipe and how you store it. Ask one question: "Can I make this fermented sauerkraut at home and sell it under the cottage food law, canned or refrigerated?" Attach the ingredient list. A written answer is worth keeping.
• Save the page with the date. Print or screenshot the rule you are relying on, with the day you checked it, and recheck every year.

The source note under the state table in "Which States Let You Sell Homemade Sauerkraut From Home?" names the exact page we used for each of the 9 states, so if you live in one of them, you can start at step 4.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is it legal to sell homemade sauerkraut?

It is legal in some states and not in others. In our September 26, 2026 check of 9 states, Texas allows homemade sauerkraut under its home rules, and Wisconsin allows it home-canned. Colorado allows shelf-stable pickled vegetables at pH 4.6 or below, so confirm your jar with CDPHE, and Minnesota allows home-canned vegetables at pH 4.6 or below without naming kraut. Oregon allows it with no license for farmers who grow the cabbage, and home cooks can apply for its licensed, inspected Domestic Kitchen License, whose prohibited list does not include fermented vegetables; confirm your kraut with ODA. Washington names canned sauerkraut as not allowed, Michigan bans pickled products and canned vegetables, California's list has no category for it, and Virginia lists canned fermented foods among products that may not be allowed under its exemption, though a permitted, inspected home kitchen is possible there for $40 a year. For raw kraut kept in the fridge, ask your agency in writing. Texas's page already allows refrigerated (TCS) cottage foods, as long as you register with DSHS.

Is sauerkraut a cottage food?

In some states it is. Wisconsin names sauerkraut and kimchi as allowed home-canned foods, and Colorado lists sauerkraut among the cottage foods it will pH test for free. Federally, sauerkraut made by fermentation alone is not an acidified food, according to Minnesota's agriculture department, but that does not decide whether your state's cottage food law includes it.

Do I need to test the pH of sauerkraut I sell?

In most states that allow it, your finished kraut must be at pH 4.6 or below. The Wisconsin, Colorado and Minnesota pages recommend or offer testing rather than require it, but testing (or, in Texas, following an approved recipe exactly) is how you show your kraut is under the line. Texas lets you skip your own lab test if you follow an approved recipe source exactly, such as the USDA Complete Guide to Home Canning. Colorado offers state lab testing at no charge for sauerkraut while funding lasts, and an electronic pH meter for your own batch checks costs around $100, per Virginia's agriculture department.

Can I sell homemade sauerkraut at a farmers market?

Yes, in the states that allow homemade sauerkraut, with the right label. Wisconsin allows home-canned sauerkraut only at farmers markets, flea markets and community or social events, with a sign saying the jars are homemade and not state inspected. Minnesota cottage food vendors can sell at farmers markets and community events, and Oregon farmers can sell at markets under Farm Direct. Check your market's own vendor rules too.

Can I sell homemade sauerkraut online or ship it?

You can take orders online in Texas, Colorado and Minnesota, but none of those 3 states lets a home kitchen mail it to another state. Texas requires you, an employee or a household member to deliver in person, Colorado bans interstate sales, and Minnesota uses pickup or your own delivery. Oregon farmers who grow the cabbage can also sell online to people within Oregon under Farm Direct. Wisconsin does not allow internet sales of home-canned sauerkraut at all.

Can I sell homemade kimchi under the same rules?

Often, but read your state's list. Wisconsin names "sauerkraut and kimchi" together, and Colorado pH tests both. MDA's guidance for commercial food manufacturers says kimchi made only by fermentation is exempt from the federal acidified rules, and that a process authority should assess the product and process. In Texas and Colorado, leave out fish sauce and shrimp paste, since both states bar fish and shellfish products from home kitchens. Wisconsin's page lists fish among products that need a license regardless of pH, so ask DATCP before selling kimchi made with fish sauce. Our guide on how to sell kimchi from home covers ingredients and pricing.

Related Reading

These 5 guides answer the next questions a home sauerkraut vendor usually asks, from making the batch to selling other ferments. Start with the first one if your state is a yes and you have never sold a jar; start with the pickles guide if your recipe uses any vinegar, since that changes which rules apply to you.

• How to Sell Sauerkraut and Fermented Vegetables From Home: the batch, troubleshooting, pricing and flavors once you are allowed.
• How to Sell Fermented Foods From Home: kombucha, kefir and vegetable ferments side by side, and the permits for each.
• Can You Sell Homemade Pickles?: the vinegar pickle rules, which apply if your kraut recipe adds vinegar.
• How to Sell Kimchi From Home: the closest cousin to sauerkraut, with its own ingredient and allergen questions.
• Wisconsin Cottage Food Law: the rest of Wisconsin's home food rules beyond the Pickle Bill.

Ready to Take Your First Sauerkraut Orders?

Once your state says yes and your recipe tests below pH 4.6, the only thing left is making it easy to buy. Under these rules, most home sauerkraut sales will be local: a porch pickup in Minnesota, a hand delivery in Texas, a delivery within Colorado. Because every batch takes weeks, your customers need a simple way to claim jars before the crock is ready, so you pack 36 half pints for 36 paid orders instead of guessing. A Homegrown storefront for your sauerkraut gives your customers one link to pick a jar size, pay, and choose pickup or delivery, for $10 a month billed annually ($12.50 billed monthly), with no percentage fees beyond standard payment processing. You keep your recipe, your label and your state's approval; the storefront handles the orders and the payments. If your state said no, start by pricing time in a licensed kitchen, and come back when your first licensed batch is ready.