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Pastry chef Janina Farias shows one of her pastry creations, Pass the Cocoa Butter, with decorations using chocolate butter cream, in her home kitchen in Calexico on Wednesday. (JOSELITO VILLERO PHOTO / February 20, 2013) |
While the rave reviews her homemade cupcakes receive from family and friends are appreciated, Priscilla Gonzales is hoping to get a little more for her efforts in the coming months and years.
Now, with a legitimate cupcake business to run, Gonzales is looking not only to make a name for herself, but profits as well.
“It would be a dream to open (a cupcake store) here in the Valley,” the 49-year-old El Centro resident said.
For the moment, Gonzales must content herself with operating her business, Icing on the Cupcake, out of her home kitchen. That she is able to do so is the result of the state’s new Homemade Food Act, which allows for certain food items to be prepared at home and sold to the public.
But before any of her tasty treats can legally be sold to the public, there are a number of conditions cottage food operators, as such home-based food businesses are called, must meet.
For starters, a health permit is needed. The county Public Health Department has received four applications for cottage food operations since the start of February.
Of those four, one was a class B permit that would allow the home-based operator to sell to other retail establishments such as restaurants, said county Environmental Health Services Deputy Director Jeff Lamoure.
Both class A and class B cottage food operators must complete and pass approved food handlers training courses, while class B operators must submit to a health inspection of their kitchen prior to approval.
Over the years, the county has investigated a variety of illegal home-based food businesses. All would comply with orders to desist.
“It wasn’t that often but we did encounter them,” Lamoure said.
Items for sale must also list their ingredients on the packaging, and explicitly state that the food item was produced in a home kitchen.
Cottage food operators must also follow their particular city’s zoning ordinances that regulate home-based businesses. In many cases, local zoning ordinances prohibit home-based businesses from receiving customer traffic.
Although she had been told ahead of time that there might be zoning “issues” with her El Centro home-based pastry business, Lilian Gonzalez said she wasn’t that concerned.
With small children at the home, Gonzalez said she was planning on having her operation, Sweet Things by Lily G, strictly do deliveries.
“I don’t want (my kids) opening the door to strangers,” she said.
Prior to the law’s passing, and aside from a few exceptions, the preparation and retail sale of homemade food products was prohibited.
The new law allows for 16 “non-hazardous” food items to be prepared at home and sold. The list is made up mostly of baked goods and non-perishable items such as dry pasta, fruit pies and tamales, candy such as brittle and toffee, granola and waffle cones, to name a few. Cookies, pastries and tortillas also made the list.
After her home-based She-Devil Pastry appeared in this newspaper’s business page earlier this month, classically trained pastry chef Janina Farias found herself the target of unexpected inquiries from the Health Department.
While she noted that the Health Department has been “very helpful” with the whole process, getting certified was her “insurance against the haters” who may have sicced the public officials on her, Farias said.
A devout foodie who admits to being “very snooty” about ingredients, Farias said her passion has become a labor-intensive, time-consuming and extremely enjoyable endeavor.
In spite of having a dedicated refrigerator and freezer at home, Farias finds the operation taking up more space in her Calexico home.
Currently, she said she has her eye on a bigger mixer that has more torque.
”I don’t know what torque is,” she said, “but I know we need it.”
Staff writer, Copy Editor Julio Morales can be reached at 760-337-3415 or at jmorales@ivpressonline.com
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