Cooking Fruits

[Raidra]

I'm trying to prepare for when Colwyn will be ready for fruits.. he's got to try barley first, then we've go the go-ahead for pears, apples, and peaches. If we make our own fruit baby food.. do we have to cook the fruits first? I thought I read something about babies not being able to eat raw apples..

If we do have to cook the fruits, how do we do it? And which fruits need to be cooked?

Thanks!

[jd11365]

Cook them in a steamer basket. You can buy one at Target for like $5 bucks... You put it in a pot and it keeps the food an inch or so off the bottom of the pot...add an inch or so of water...and cover...steam until mushy! :) I cooked them all for the first month or so, now she eats them all raw...and loves them! I used commercial barley, rice and oatmeal...making those was a royal pain...

Jamie
Mommy to Kayla
May '03

[sadie427]

You do, at least at first, because otherwise if he had a problem you wouldn't know if he's allergic to the fruit or is having a problem because it's raw. I cooked pears in water just to cover and then pureed, you could also steam them. I then froze them in ice cube trays and transferred them to freezer bags. For apples I just bought organic unsweetened applesauce (trader joe's is good, if you live near a tj's store); for peaches I actually used jarred peaches no sugar added from trader joe's also. Fresh peaches are not in season, so I'm not sure whether or not they would need to be cooked. He just had grated raw apple for the first time last night (at 7 months) with no problem. The tropical fruits don't need to be cooked (not sure why not, but we gave these raw with no problem)--mangoes, papaya, banana.

[houseof3boys]

The steamer that Jamie recommended is great for all of the food since it is so easy. There is really nothing complicated about cooking the fruits or veggies and it doesn't really take that much time. I peel some fruits before and some after (like pears since the peel just falls right off when they are cooked), pop them in the processor and voila you are done.

Bananas and mangoes are the only ones I haven't cooked. I also bought the unsweetened organic applesauce since it was much easier than cooking the apples.

Here is a good online resource:

www.wholesomebabyfood.com