Bread I made from scratch. (Provided photo — Diane Chase)

I saw a restaurant sign that stated “homemade jam” on the menu, and I wondered how, in the ever-living time of food regulation, a restaurant can make items at their personal home and bring them to work? Perhaps they were using the wrong term, trying to evoke a cozy atmosphere. Nope. When you’re buying a farmer’s jam, the farmer or home cook can label their items as homemade as long as they follow the Cottage Food Laws. Each state’s Cottage Food laws vary, of course. I asked. It turns out I don’t know the difference between something being homemade or from scratch.

More commonly, I see restaurants providing condiments or products labeled house-made rather than homemade, like ketchup or dressings. It makes sense that if a restaurant is buying basic ingredients and preparing the created product, they should tout the fact that they are serving a fresh product, not just shipping in a pre-mixed item.

It may be a statement about my cooking, but I always thought scratch and homemade were the same thing. Wrong. Just because I bake in my home doesn’t mean my home-baked dessert is from scratch. (I’ve never claimed my gluten-free brownies are from scratch. Gluten-free brownies that taste good are difficult, so don’t judge.) According to Merriam-Webster, the term “from scratch” originated in the 1800s during foot races. At the time, a running race would start with a line scratched into the earth to make sure all participants started at the same time and no one had an advantage over another. They “started from scratch.” Eventually, the term evolved to include making something with the most basic ingredients.

How far do we need to go to determine we have made something from scratch? Do we need to Little Red Hen our way through the process and actually plant, grow, mill and assemble the products? Many products from our area farmers are farm-to-table; it’s just not happening in my house.

The most common claim to making something from scratch is getting the recipe and using the raw ingredients to create the final product. It may suit some people to churn their own butter and mill their own grain, but in my house, if I manage to conjure up the ingredients, then the finished item is from scratch.

It is a stretch to say anything made within the confines of my property is considered homemade. I make boxed-mix brownies in my home, but I don’t need to classify everything. I want to eat gluten-free brownies that don’t taste like sand. Enjoy your own scratch or homemade deliciousness. Call it whatever you want. I will eat anything offered, within reason.