July 2010
Baby Food
The Real Taste of Home Cooking
By Nancy Piho
Is a puréed carrot a puréed carrot, and do mashed bananas always taste the same? Interesting questions, when you consider them from the perspective of baby foods. You may be surprised to find that what you are feeding baby, and what baby actually tastes, are not necessarily the same thing.
I became fascinated by this when my oldest son started on solid foods. Like most of us, I headed for the baby aisle at the grocery store to stock up on the little jars of Number Ones, the single foods like carrots, peas, bananas and green beans that pediatricians tell you to introduce to your child one at a time. Willie liked most of them well enough, but as I started paying more attention to the foods, I became concerned about what he was tasting. Not what he was eating, because, of course, the foods in commercial baby food jars are what they are labeled to be, but what those foods looked and tasted like. These were like no carrots, green beans or peas that I had ever eaten.
For starters, the colors of the baby foods were always a little distorted. Puréed carrots from the jar were darker orange than the fresh carrots I steamed in the microwave and chopped in a food processor. And the commercial version was so runny in texture that it had an unsettling resemblance to ketchup. Same with green beans, peas and spinach; in each case, the green color had a muddy tint rather than the bright vibrancy that we typically associate with these vegetables. But the ultimate test was the taste of the products, homemade versus store-bought. And since I couldn't subject little Willie to this taste test with enough detailed results, I decided to try it on my own.
Taste Tests
Over the next few weeks, I staged an elaborate testing session to determine whether or not there is a real taste difference between packaged baby food products and the version that can easily be made at home. I invited several parent/foodie/chef friends to join in this experiment, so that I would get more objective descriptions of the two, compared side-by-side. I bought a variety of national brands of Stage One and Stage Two commercial baby foods, both organic and conventional, and then prepared those same items fresh at home.
The recipe for homemade was always the same: Steam vegetables in water, and then purée in a food processor. Fruits that did not require cooking were simply mashed to an almost-liquid form. Our group rated them first on appearance (color and texture), then on aroma and finally on taste.
Taste Test Results
We found that across the board, the commercial products could best be described as--off. Off, as in, not exactly terrible, but not what you would expect them to be either. The fruits had very pungent aromas and flavors, like an overly ripe banana. The vegetable flavors were vaguely similar to the real thing, but with a noticeable "processed" component, much like the way canned green beans taste next to fresh. Most had a strong and biting aftertaste. This was true with all of the brands of the packaged products, organic and conventional, store labels and the most expensive. Yes, there is definitely a difference.
Parents of older kids will tell you that it's hard enough to get children to eat vegetables on a regular basis. Why not start them out on the real thing, so that they can learn what green beans are really supposed to taste like!
Homemade How-To's
If you're convinced and want to start cooking for your baby, how do you go about it? Rest assured, making baby food is some of the easiest home cooking you'll ever do.
All you need is a microwave oven and a food processor, and if those aren't available, just substitute a pot and a knife and fork. Start by steaming a vegetable in water (either in the microwave or on the stove top), cooking until it is soft enough to mash. (This will be softer than you probably like to eat vegetables.) Place in a food processor and purée until creamy, adding a little more water if needed. And that's it! Fruits are even easier, as they don't have to be cooked. Refrigerate any leftovers in a sealable container.
As your baby's taste buds begin to expand and he's ready to try something more adventuresome, substitute chicken stock or vegetable broth for the water. Don't be afraid to add a little bit in the way of seasoning, too; ingredients like olive oil and light spices will enhance the flavors. Try roasting vegetables in olive oil and fresh or dried herbs or sautéing them on the stove top before puréeing.
When your baby has sampled a nice array and is ready to move up to flavor combinations, combine foods that are typically served together and purée into one mix: chicken, peas and potatoes; salad ingredients; pasta and meat sauce. Add just enough water to make the mixture easy to spoon. Don't worry if the color combo looks a little strange; you can be certain that the taste of the food is exactly as it is supposed to be! And at this stage, that is what really matters.
Nancy Tringali Piho is the president of NTA, Inc., and the author of My Two-Year-Old Eats Octopus: Raising Children Who Love to Eat Everything. (Bull Publishing) She lives in Washington with her husband and two young sons.