Flavouring food

[JessKanji]

Help please. My DS is now on solids. How do I flavour his food, as you cannot use salt or sugar. He is 8 months. Please give me some tips. Thank you ...

what do u need to flavour?

[puzzled]

am joining misdee on the puzzled front.
doesn't food have flavour?

Garlic? Lemon / lime? Herbs? Chilli or curry powder if you are feeling v brave?

Mince meat, chicken and fish?

talilac thanks, i wasn't sure about herbs. Not brave with the chilli and curry powder. Can I use ketchup?

You dont need to flavour food for kids. Food has lots of flavour already.

food has a flavour already, so you don't need to add anything.

If, however, you want to add a bit of variety you can use herbs, spices, garlic, onion, or just flavoursome fruit and vegetables in the first place (as opposed to, say, babyrice)

Steer clear of the chillies for the time being though.

Chicken, meat and fish have very strong flavours of their own, you really don't need to add anything to it at this stage. You may think it tastes bland but your baby wont.

Think of nice fruit and veg that you can mix with the meat, fish or chicken for variety.

Like chicken with chestnut and parsnip

or salmon with pear and carrot

or meat with garlic

Don't bother with the ketchup just yet, plenty of time for them to get addicted to it later on

Some tips:

add a tiny bit of cinnamon to mince meat when you're cooking it

cook up red lentils with some garlic and a few coriander leaves and a tiny bit of cumin for some baby dahl

mix fruit and vegetables

mix fruit and meat

add a little bit of cheese and parsley to white fish

You are right OverMyDeadBody i'm thinking about it from my palate and see it as bland. Baby wont find it bland though. Thanks

Thanks for the tips will definately use them.

no probs!

As I always say, baby food doesn't have to mean bland food, but they will taste a lot more in the food than we can.

Good luck and don't be afraid to experiment. The only thing they can't have is salt and honey.

Ditto what OMDB says re ketchup. They are going to get addicted to it at some point (my nearly 2 yr old thinks its the bees knees). I'd delay that point as long as possible!

Not that its bad stuff necessarily - yes sugar and some salt, but a good source of lycopene etc. But its terribly dispiriting to be faced with a tantruming toddler who won't eat her dinner unless shes given ketchup..

Garlic is great stuff for flavouring if your DS likes it.

by all means add whatever you like (so long as it's not salt), but as you've said there's no need. unless it's food for the entire family, obv, in which case i'd wheel out the garlic, lemon, smoked paprika, nutmeg, herbs, good olive oil, butter etc etc etc.

so glad its not just my dd who cannot consider eating her dinner without ketchup.

You dont have to use alot of curry powder just a pinch my dd loved it.

AuntyJ - Luckily she frequently forgets about it, so its not an every meal thing here.. I just have to make sure it stays hidden in a dark cupboard at meal times!

Aitch, was just thinking about you and your blog today. have just started BLW with DD2, and was serving banana, split down the middle into 3 gripable segments. Its a very neat trick which of course I got from your blog back when I was weaning DD1.. That and always strip baby naked before giving banana which unfortunately I didn't remember in time..

There's a v low salt stock cube made by Kallo - I'm going to use this to flavour a lot of things e.g. bolognese, shepard's pie, when I cook for all of us. (The packaging looks quite different but I picked it up in Waitrose in the stock cube section)

I'll stay away from the ketchup then!

Talilac you mention giving DD2 banana. I want to give my DS finger food, and hear toast is great. Will he not choke? Bit anxious?

oh god, banana is filthy stuff on a baby garment, isn't it, taliac?
why don't you have a wee look at www.babyledweaning.com, jess, that might help with some of your questions.

Hey Jess,

Aitch's blog above has loads of info on this point, but a brief answer to your question is that they don't choke as much as gag.. This is a natural mechanism for clearing food they cant deal with out of their mouths.. You just try and let them get on with it really..