Broccoli - soft enough for baby means it's basically disgusting?

[thaliablogs]

I tried my daughter with some broccoli florets this evening. She was not in the slightest bit interested, in fact she positively resisted eating them (put some in her mouth originally, made a horrible face, and spat most of it out), although she loved mushing them. I know with blw this is no big deal, just keep offering them to her, so I'm not worried about that, but I did feel that by the time I'd steamed them enough for them to be soft and giving, they just weren't that nice any more - very soft and the tiny flower bits were just falling off and disintegrating.

So the real question - how much do you cook your broccoli (ditto asparagus) before offering it? Until it's really soft or just until it has some give and just let them gum it anyway - assuming they then pretty much won't swallow any of it as they won't be able to get it into small enough pieces to be able to swallow it.

She's 8 months and has no teeth, btw.

I cook until just soft (i hate overcooked veg ).

I have just been giving dd2 (8.6mths) whatever we are eating. Although i have found dd2 eats anything that she gets her hands on.

Doesn't need to be mushy at all - ds (8mo) has no teeth but can still gum a piece of lightly-steamed broccoli and get quite a lot down.

I used to steam it for 5 minutes.

if you can smush it with a fork it will be fine for her. my dd used to eat things like peach and avocado which are a bit harder then broc. if you do keep offering i can assure you she will eat it eventually! after 2y of offering carrot regularly and seeing me eat it, finally dd eats it!!

I didn't bother giving it in pieces, but cooked it only lightly so still bright green, and then shaved the flower bits off with a knife and gave her just those. Usually mixed with mashed potato or something.