Why does taste matter
Research shows babies who eat a wide variety of different foods with strong natural flavours and textures from an early age will eat a much broader and healthier diet later in life. It...
Research shows babies who eat a wide variety of different foods with strong natural flavours and textures from an early age will eat a much broader and healthier diet later in life. It definitely helps develop positive eating habits for life.
In fact, at our recent workshop we found a lot of mums who didn’t taste their baby’s food as they fed them, and if they did they were very shocked; many didn’t think the food they were giving their babies was very nice.
But it’s much more than food just tasting ‘nice’. The food a baby eats in its first year should always taste like real food. In this way, your baby will be developing its taste buds to respond positively to a wide variety of flavours, colours, odours and textures.
We must train our babies taste buds just as they train all their other essential senses and skills as they grow like walking and speaking.
Babies are generally good eaters between the ages of 6 and 12 months but you have to make the most of this time and give your baby lots of different things to try.
Not only does a varied diet encourage a healthy and adventurous attitude to food, it also means you are increasing the nutrients in their diet
Doesn't all food taste like real food
In our workshop, we found a lot of mums were buying ready-made food from the shelves on the baby aisle in the supermarket. The format of this food is very convenient, and because there are strong...
In our workshop, we found a lot of mums were buying ready-made food from the shelves on the baby aisle in the supermarket. The format of this food is very convenient, and because there are strong rules which control the manufacture of baby food, it is safe and nutritionally balanced.
However, anything that is in a jar, a pouch or a plastic pot and is sold on a shelf in the baby aisle outside of a fridge or freezer will have been cooked twice to pasteurise the food, and this is what affects the flavour.
In order to make it safe, all baby food sold in a jar, pouch or pot will be cooked in the normal way, then sealed in the packaging, then heated again to kill the germs. Sometimes the food will be sterilized up to 121oC to ensure it is absolutely safe.
It is these very high second cook temperatures that completely change the taste, colour and texture of the food. Natural sugars in the recipe’s fruit and vegetables caramelise and become orangey / brown with a distinctive bitter flavour. Vitamins and minerals are also rapidly destroyed.
At our workshop, we allowed mums to compare ready-made baby food in jars, pots and pouches with freshly cooked frozen versions; they immediately recognised how this ‘boiling’ process had transformed the flavour of food.
It's not the ingredients that are used that affect the taste but how it is processed after cooking; we think less is more.
What does this mean to Babylicious and Kiddylicious
We are the most experienced company in the world providing a range of freshly frozen baby food products from early weaning products to school age, combining convenience with real flavour. ...
We are the most experienced company in the world providing a range of freshly frozen baby food products from early weaning products to school age, combining convenience with real flavour.
We’ve been working with UK supermarkets to make our frozen baby and kids meals available to parents, so they have more choice in those very important early years of a child’s eating.
We are the first baby food company placing freezers in the baby food aisle, and we believe, supported by the science, this gives parents convenient AND tasty, yummy meals educating young taste buds for life.
Look out for more stores with freezers in the baby aisles in the coming few months. Where can I buy?
