Author: Martha Rabello

Jennifer Marich and Elizabeth Cibotariu sit down with Ernie Anastos to discuss NJ’s lack of cottage food laws.

Growing up in Brazil, Martha Rabello, who now lives in Fanwood with her husband and three young children, loved the coffee and sweets that her grandmother served every day at 3pm. After settling in the United States in 2005, Rabello attended the pastry program at Manhattan’s Institute for Culinary Education, graduating in 2009. She subsequently…

CRANFORD, NJ — Martha Rabello used to run her own bakery. Not anymore. The Cranford mother of two was trained as a pastry chef in Brooklyn and specialized in Brazilian-inspired cookies that pair well with coffee. She rented a commercial-grade kitchen, required by New Jersey state law, but the cost was so burdensome, she stopped, halting…

After escaping an abusive relationship, Heather Russinko found herself living paycheck to paycheck. For Heather, baking became a way to recover, and bond with her son. At first, she sold her baked goods to support her son’s school fundraisers. But over time, her signature cake pops became a hit. Soon Heather started receiving requests from…

FRANKLIN — For single mom Heather Russinko, the desire to fight for change started with a cake pop. “I’m a pretty decent baker,” said Russinko, of Franklin. “I have always made cookies and cake pops for birthday parties and things around the neighborhood, and when I started looking for a way to supplement my income,…

New Jersey seems to never miss an opportunity to send a message that it is an overly regulated state unfriendly to business. The latest is state legislators making home bakers sue the state to be allowed to sell limited amounts of their breads, cakes, cookies and such. Democrats in the state Senate have blocked voting…

 Selling homemade baked goods in New Jersey is no piece of cake. It is the only state where home bakers can sell treats for charity, but not for profit. Now, home bakers there are suing the government over a law that bans the sale of items not made in a commercial-grade kitchen. For Heather…

Selling baked goods prepared in a home kitchen in New Jersey is far from easy as pie.  New Jersey is the only state to completely ban the commercial sale of food made in a home kitchen, including foods deemed not potentially hazardous, such as cookies, breads, muffins and other goods that are shelf-stable and do…

A group of home bakers are suing to overturn a New Jersey law that says they can’t bake their cakes and make money too. A lawsuit they said they’re filing in state Superior Court seeks to “vindicate the right of New Jerseyans to earn an honest living by selling safe and delicious home-baked goods and…

ELIZABETH — A group of stay-at-home mothers are suing the state Health Department in a challenge to a law prohibiting home-baked goods from being sold to the public. The lawsuit by the New Jersey Home Bakers Association and three of its members argues that the law is discriminatory because it allows home-baked goods to be…