Can I sell my maple syrup?

Maine

Yes, with a license — and a cheap one: Maine's maple syrup processing license is $2 a year if you make under 15 gallons, $25 above that. Your sugarhouse gets inspected, every bottle needs a grade and a tamper-evident seal, and selling away from your farm (like at a farmers market) takes a separate mobile vendor license.

Michigan

Yes, qualifying small producers can sell their own Michigan maple syrup without a food establishment license. When checked on October 14, 2026, MDARD still published annual gross-sales limits of $50,000, or $75,000 for operations selling products at $250 or more per unit. Exempt syrup still needs the required label and a facility that meets the Food Law.

Minnesota

Yes — if the syrup comes from trees on land you own, rent or lease and you add nothing from off the farm, Minnesota treats it as a "product of the farm" and you don't need a food license or cottage food registration. Add off-farm ingredients like flavorings — or, per the state producers' association, sap or syrup from someone else — and you'll need a license (or, for some products, cottage food registration).

New Hampshire

Yes — New Hampshire doesn't require a license or certificate to sell maple syrup. What it does require is syrup that meets the state's grade and density standards (66.9 to 68.9 °Brix), hot-packed in sealed containers with a grade and product code on the label.

New York

Yes — if you boil and bottle your own syrup, New York exempts you from its food processing license. You still have to keep a sanitary operation, grade every retail container using New York's Grade A color and taste classes, and label it properly.

Ohio

Yes — if you collect at least 75% of the sap you boil from trees yourself, Ohio exempts you from licensing, registration and mandatory inspection. Every container still needs a proper label, and grading is optional in Ohio — but if you print a grade, you have to test the syrup first.

Pennsylvania

Yes, but you'll need to register first. Pennsylvania requires every maple producer who sells to register with the Department of Agriculture as a food establishment ($35 a year) and pass an inspection — and home kitchens can qualify through the Limited Food Establishment program.

Vermont

Yes — and if you make and pack your own syrup, Vermont doesn't require a license for it. What Vermont does have is a detailed maple law: packaged syrup must hit at least 66.9 °Brix, carry a Vermont grade, a batch code and a tamper-proof seal, and only 100% Vermont-made syrup can be called Vermont maple.

Wisconsin

Yes — selling your own syrup straight to consumers from an outlet that mainly sells your own maple syrup needs no retail license, and selling under $5,000 a year of bulk syrup to other processors needs only an annual registration. Selling to stores, restaurants or other resellers takes a food processing plant license from DATCP.

Connecticut

Yes — and most small producers don't need a license. Connecticut only licenses maple syrup producers whose syrup sales top $25,000 a year ($50 annually, through the Department of Agriculture). Under that line you're exempt, but every packaged container still needs a proper label, and the state can investigate complaints about any producer's syrup.

Illinois

Yes, but Illinois has no special maple exemption — syrup is treated like any other bottled food. The small-producer route is the cottage food law: register with your local health department (up to $50 a year), bottle at home, and sell straight to consumers inside Illinois. Selling to stores or restaurants is wholesale, and since July 1, 2026 that takes a state food processing plant permit.

Indiana

Yes — if you make the syrup at your primary residence and sell it yourself, straight to the people who'll eat it, Indiana's home-based vendor law needs no license, registration or inspection, just a food handler certificate and a specific label. Selling to stores, restaurants or anyone who resells it is wholesale, which means registering with the Indiana Department of Health first.

Iowa

Yes. Iowa has no maple-specific rules, so syrup follows the general food laws — and those are friendly to small producers. Syrup made at your residence and sold straight to consumers falls under the cottage food exemption: no license, no inspection, just a label. Selling to stores takes either a $50 home food processing establishment license (under $50,000 a year) or a food processing plant license.

Kentucky

Yes — Kentucky names maple syrup as a food a home-based processor may make. Register with the state's Food Safety Branch ($50 a year), keep gross sales at $60,000 or under, and sell directly to consumers inside Kentucky. Selling to stores, by mail or across state lines takes a food manufacturing permit instead.

Massachusetts

Yes. Massachusetts’ state retail code exempts qualifying direct sales of pure maple products from a board-of-health food permit, though local requirements still need checking. Wholesale is a separate question: ask DPH whether your operation requires a wholesale license or qualifies for an exemption before supplying stores.

Missouri

Yes — Missouri issues no state food license at all, and its health department says honey, sorghum and maple syrup may be made in an uninspected home kitchen for sale straight to consumers, as long as the label says so. Selling to stores means letting the Department of Health and Senior Services inspect your operation against the federal good-manufacturing-practice rules — still with no license or fee.

West Virginia

Yes, and freely: West Virginia exempts non-potentially-hazardous foods — the Department of Agriculture lists "tree syrup" by name — from state licensing, permitting, inspection, packaging and labeling laws, whether you sell at a market, from the farm, online or even through a store. The trade-off is a specific label, including a non-commercial-kitchen statement if you bottle at home.

Ontario

Yes. Ontario has no provincial licence for selling maple syrup, but every container you sell must follow Ontario Regulation 119/11: graded, colour-classed, filled to at least 90% and properly labelled. If your syrup will leave the province, you'll also need a federal Safe Food for Canadians licence from CFIA.

New Brunswick

Yes. New Brunswick treats a maple syrup producer as a Class 5 food premises under the Public Health Act, with a reduced licence fee of $50 a year for premises that make only maple syrup products. Syrup made in a private home kitchen and sold only at a farmers' market or other public market needs no licence at all. Grading and labelling inside the province follow the federal Food and Drugs Act rules, and a federal CFIA licence is needed only if your syrup leaves the province.

Nova Scotia

Yes. Nova Scotia's Food Safety Regulations don't apply to a home where low-risk food is made for sale at a public market, a temporary event or directly to the final consumer, and the province's public-market guidelines list maple products among those low-risk "Schedule B" foods — so no permit is needed to sell your own syrup direct. Stores may only stock food from an inspected source, so wholesale means a permitted, inspected premises. Grading inside the province follows federal food law; a CFIA licence applies only if the syrup leaves Nova Scotia.

Quebec

Yes — but Quebec is the one place where who you sell to matters more than how much you make. Syrup you produce in your own sugarbush and sell directly to consumers in containers of 5 litres (or 5 kg) or less sits outside the PPAQ marketing plan, and a registered farm needs no MAPAQ permit to sell its pure maple products. Sell to a store, restaurant or any middleman and you need PPAQ quota; sell in bulk (over 5 litres) and it must go through the PPAQ sales agency. Every retail container must be Grade A, in a new small container, and labelled with its colour class.