As your baby grows and reaches the age of six months old, it’s time to slowly introduce solid foods. This process is called weaning and vegetable and fruit purees are an ideal food for your baby at this time, as they’re smooth, soft and tasty. Although purees can be purchased ready made, they’re extremely easy to make and you can be sure of exactly what goes in the mixture. So here are four easy purees which are healthy, nutritious and wholesome and are ideal for your baby!
Vegetable Puree
As a first introduction to vegetables, try using carrots, potato or sweet potato. Although you can mix vegetables as your baby gets used to purees, in the first instance it’s best to offer one new taste at a time. It’s good for your baby to discover what he does and doesn’t like, and it makes it easier for you to identify his preferences!
Peel your chosen vegetable, chop it into pieces then boil or steam it for 15 to 20 minutes, or until tender. Next blend the mixture, adding some of the cooking liquid or water. At this stage, it’s hard to know exactly how liquidy your baby would prefer the puree, so it’s a case of experimenting. Spoon the finished puree into a bowl and serve it when it’s lukewarm – too hot and it would burn your baby’s mouth. If you have some mixture left, you can freeze it in a small container and take it out when you need it.
Sweet Potato and Carrot
Choose one or two sweet potatoes and one or two carrots, depending on size, peel and chop into pieces. Add the vegetables to a saucepan, cover with water and cook until boiled and tender. Transfer the vegetables, plus some of the water, to a blender and blend until the mixture becomes soft and smooth.
Sweet potatoes are a good choice of vegetable as they’re naturally sweet. Used with carrot, the puree produced will be a gorgeous orange colour. If there’s any puree left over, put it in small containers and freeze ready for another time.
Apple or Pear
Once your baby has got to grips with eating vegetable purees, then you can give fruits a go. As a starting point, apples and pear both make a great first fruit puree, as they’re rich in vitamin C, an antioxidant vitamin, as well as tasting good.
Peel and chop the apples or pears into small pieces. Place the fruit into a large saucepan, add one to two tablespoons of water or unsweetened apple juice, and cook on a low heat for six to eight minutes for apples, or five minutes for pears. When the fruit is tender, remove it from the pan, add some of the remaining liquid and puree the mixture until it reaches a smooth consistency. Spoon into a bowl for your baby and serve it lukewarm. Like vegetable versions, fruit purees can also be frozen.
Apricot, Apple and Pear
This fruity puree provides a good source of vitamin C and iron. The vitamin C will help protect your baby’s brain cells from destructive free radicals and the iron helps with brain function.
Choose one ripe apple, one ripe pear and 60g of dried apricots. Peel and chop the apple and pear, and chop the apricots into pieces. Put all the fruit into a saucepan, add four tablespoons of water and simmer for five to 10 minutes. Next add all the mixture into a blender and puree it until it becomes smooth. Serve to your baby.
By Rachel Newcombe
Four Tasty and Nutritious Puree’s for Babies