Selling jam in New Hampshire
What New Hampshire's own pages say about making jam at home, each line linked, and the path to a store when you want one to stock it.
Run the free rules check for it: no account, no AI.
Can I make jam at home in New Hampshire?
New Hampshire's own pages, as ShelfStep read them on October 24, 2026, do not name jam or foods like it, so this page cannot tell you whether a home kitchen in New Hampshire may make it. Ask the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services before you make it at home to sell. What the state allows and leaves out in general is on the New Hampshire page.
What rules does jam come under beyond New Hampshire's?
Outside a home kitchen, ShelfStep's plan reads jam as a shelf-stable acid or acidified food. The plan's own line for it, a default and not a law:
What the rules behind it say, in their own words, with the page and the day ShelfStep read each. ShelfStep does not decide which of them apply to your product.
- Acidified foods: the definition and its exclusions21 CFR 114.3(b) says:“(b) Acidified foods means low-acid foods to which acid(s) or acid food(s) are added; these foods include, but are not limited to, beans, cucumbers, cabbage, artichokes, cauliflower, puddings, peppers, tropical fruits, and fish, singly or in any combination. They have a water activity (aw) greater than 0.85 and have a finished equilibrium pH of 4.6 or below. ... Carbonated beverages, jams, jellies, preserves, acid foods (including such foods as standardized and nonstandardized food dressings and condiment sauces) that contain small amounts of low-acid food(s) and have a resultant finished equilibrium pH that does not significantly differ from that of the predominant acid or acid food, and foods that are stored, distributed, and retailed under refrigeration are excluded from the coverage of this part.”21 CFR 114.3(b) · Read Oct 8, 2026
- The federal standard for jam and preserves21 CFR 150.160(d) says:“(i) In the case of a fruit ingredient consisting of a Group I fruit or a permitted combination exclusively of Group I fruits, 47 parts by weight of the fruit ingredient to each 55 parts by weight of the saccharine ingredient; and (ii) in all other cases, 45 parts by weight of the fruit ingredient to each 55 parts by weight of the saccharine ingredient. ... (5) The soluble-solids content of the finished jam or preserve is not less than 65 percent”21 CFR 150.160(d) · Read Oct 8, 2026
- FDA's definition of a food facility21 CFR 1.227 says:“Facility means any establishment, structure, or structures under one ownership at one general physical location, or, in the case of a mobile facility, traveling to multiple locations, that manufactures/processes, packs, or holds food for consumption in the United States. ... The private residence of an individual is not a facility.”21 CFR 1.227 · Read Oct 8, 2026
Where may food made at home be sold in New Hampshire?
- New Hampshire, homestead food operations without a license: where it may be soldRSA 143-A:12, Homestead Food License Required says:“II. Homestead food operations selling food, excluding potentially hazardous food, from the homestead residence, at the owner's own farm stand, at farmers' markets, or at retail food stores are exempt from licensure and departmental inspection under this subdivision, except that the department may inspect when the department has reason to suspect an imminent health hazard as defined in RSA 143-A:3, IV-b.”RSA 143-A:12, Homestead Food License Required · Read Oct 24, 2026
What does New Hampshire say a home-made label must carry?
- New Hampshire, homestead food operations without a license: the home-made labelRSA 143-A:12, Homestead Food License Required says:“(c)(1) Products made by homestead food operations exempt from licensure shall also be clearly labeled with the following statement: "This product is exempt from New Hampshire licensing and inspection."”RSA 143-A:12, Homestead Food License Required · Read Oct 24, 2026
- New Hampshire, licensed homestead food operations: the home-made labelRSA 143-A:12, Homestead Food License Required says:“(2) Products made by nonexempt homestead food operations shall also be clearly labeled with the following statement: "This product is made in a residential food production area licensed by the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services."”RSA 143-A:12, Homestead Food License Required · Read Oct 24, 2026
- New Hampshire's Homestead Food Operation rules: the home-made labelRSA 143-A:12, Homestead Food License Required says:“V. (a) All homestead food products sold in packages from the home or farm stand of a homestead food operation shall have one of the following individual labels on each package containing the following information: (1) Name, physical or e-mail address, and phone number of the homestead food operation; name of the homestead food product; the ingredients of the homestead product, in descending order of predominance by weight; and allergy information.”RSA 143-A:12, Homestead Food License Required · Read Oct 24, 2026
- New Hampshire's Homestead Food Operation rules: the home-made labelRSA 143-A:12, Homestead Food License Required says:“(2) Name, physical or e-mail address, and phone number of the homestead food operation; name of the homestead food product; allergy information as established in rules; and a QR code or website where the ingredients of the homestead product, in descending order of predominance by weight, are listed and must be accompanied by a physical sign at the display location where the ingredients of the homestead product, in descending order of predominance by weight are listed.”RSA 143-A:12, Homestead Food License Required · Read Oct 24, 2026
- New Hampshire's Homestead Food Operation rules: the home-made labelRSA 143-A:12, Homestead Food License Required says:“(b) All homestead food products sold in packages from farmers' markets or to restaurants or other retail food establishments, over the Internet, by mail order, or to wholesalers, brokers, or other food distributors who will resell the homestead product shall have individual labels on each package containing the following information: name, physical or e-mail address, and phone number of the homestead food operation; name of the homestead food product; the ingredients of the homestead product, in descending order of predominance by weight; and allergy information.”RSA 143-A:12, Homestead Food License Required · Read Oct 24, 2026
How do I get jam into a store in New Hampshire?
- New Hampshire's Homestead Food Operation rules: what applies beyond the home-kitchen rulesRSA 143-A:12, Homestead Food License Required says:“III. Homestead food operations that wish to sell food products, excluding potentially hazardous food, to restaurants or other retail food establishments, over the Internet, by mail order, or to wholesalers, brokers, or other food distributors who will resell the homestead product shall be licensed under RSA 143-A:13.”RSA 143-A:12, Homestead Food License Required · Read Oct 24, 2026
- New Hampshire, freeze-dried homestead foods: what applies beyond the home-kitchen rulesRSA 143-A:12, Homestead Food License Required says:“IV. Homestead food operations processing and selling freeze dried foods, from the homestead residence, at the owner's own farm stand, at farmers' markets, or at retail food stores shall be licensed under RSA 143-A:4. For the purposes of this section, freeze dried foods means fruits, vegetables, and commercially prepared dairy products.”RSA 143-A:12, Homestead Food License Required · Read Oct 24, 2026
From there, ShelfStep's standard plan for a shelf-stable acid or acidified food has 18 steps. The first 6 help you find out where and how jam can be made at all, so they come first:
- 1.
Write the recipe down with exact amounts
Cost, price, nutrition and the label are all worked out from this. Write it in the units you actually use; ShelfStep converts for the label. What matters is that someone else could make the same batch from what is written.
- 2.
Decide how it is kept: on a shelf, in the fridge or frozen
The planned storage helps the reviewer assess the process, shelf life and packaging.
In the plan: It decides which rules you follow.
- 3.
Find out where you are allowed to make it for sale
This finds out whether the state’s rules allow making this in a home kitchen or point to a commercial one — and that changes the cost and the timeline of everything after it. It is much cheaper to find out now than after buying packaging.
In the plan: Your state's home-kitchen rules, in its own words. Whether they cover your product is for your state's agency to say.
- 4.
Have the pH and water activity of a finished batch measured
These measurements give your reviewer information about the batch; they do not establish safety or storage conditions on their own.
In the plan: The two numbers the acidified-food rules name. Measured on the finished product, once it has settled.
- 6.
Look into FDA registration
Registration is how FDA knows your facility exists; the plan is what an inspector or a buyer’s audit asks to see. Both are far easier to do now than during either.
In the plan: Look into registration with FDA. Any filing your Process Authority letter names belongs here too.
Every step, with its reason and what it typically costs, is on the jam page:
Where do I go from here?
Check the rules for yours, then keep it
The rules check runs the same deterministic engine ShelfStep uses inside the app, on your answers, and quotes the sentences each rule rests on, with their links and the day ShelfStep read them. It does not decide which apply. It is free, needs no account and uses no AI. A ShelfStep workspace then keeps your plan, your records and the dates, free for one product.