Spice Up Your Baby's World - Adding Spices to Baby's Homemade Baby Foods
You've probably heard it over and over again, "Do not add sugar or salt to baby food". What about adding herbs and spices to tempt your baby's palate? Many parents neglect spices and the wide variety of tastes that may be introduced simply by adding a spice!
In many countries, babies are not fed bland rice cereals as their first foods rather, they introduced to spices from the start. Making your own baby food allows you to experiment with different tastes and textures for your baby and further offers you the chance to use a wider variety of ingredients than what is found in commercial jars of baby food.
"Well if there's sugar or cinnamon in the commercial foods, why can't I add a wee bit to my homemade baby food?"
Read some of the labels of commercial baby foods and you may ask yourself the above question too! Commercial baby food tends to use additives or "fillers" when baby moves away from Stage 1 baby food. These additives and fillers typically enter the commercial baby food chain in the "Stage 2", Dessert, "Stage 3" and "Toddler Meals" varieties. Why baby food companies find it necessary to even create "baby desserts" is beyond our imagination!
What Types of Spices Can I Add to Baby's Food?
While it is never recommended to add sugar or salt to baby's food, we do advocate adding some things to "spice up" or flavour your baby's food. Often when we think of additions to food for kids, sugar and/or salt immediately come to mind. Parents may seldom think about adding herbs and spices such as:
- vanilla *
- pepper
- garlic powder
- basil
- rosemary
- dill
- oregano
- lemon zest
- ginger
- cinnamon
- mint
- nutmeg
- anise
- curry powder (yes, it's true, you may offer your older infant a wee dash of curry powder in her foods. You do need to watch for any reactions as some components of curry or even chili powder may give baby a rash)
*A note concerning vanilla and other liquid flavour extracts: Pure vanilla and other liquid flavors/extracts, depending on the market/country where you may live, often contain a high amount of alcohol. The alcohol is used to extract and preserve the flavor of the spice.
When using vanilla as a flavouring for your baby food, ensure that you are using either the vanilla bean or an essence of vanilla that is not labeled as "pure".You may use pure vanilla for adding to foods that are cooking or baking as the alcohol will cook off.Never add any sort of flavoring to your baby's bottle of formula or bottle of breast milk!
These aforementioned spices can be lovely additions to your baby's foods! Introducing baby to spices that the family typically cooks with does not have to be left until baby has reached toddlerhood! Early introduction of spices may one day find you thinking, "Wow, we have never used salt or sugar in any or our kid(s)' foods!". Imagine raising a child that is not reliant on artificial sweeteners to entice the appetite!
When Can I Add Spices to Baby's Food?
A majority of pediatricians will recommend waiting until an infant is 8 months or older to introduce spices. This recommendation often has more to do with staving off digestive upsets than it does with possible allergic reactions. Like any other new food, please follow the "4 day wait rule" when introducing spices!
As always, please discuss the introduction and use of herbs and spices with your baby's pediatrician!
Spiced Up Baby Food Creations
Try these spicy mixtures and put some baby zing into those everyday foods for baby:
Apple(Sauce) with cinnamon
Pears with Ginger and a drip of vanilla
Bananas with ginger
Plain Yogurt with mint
Sweet potato with nutmeg, cinnamon and/or cardamom
Pumpkin with cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and dash of vanilla
Chicken with cinnamon and/or coriander
Chicken with garlic powder and basil
Carrots with basil & garlic - baked cinnamon carrots are yummy too!
Green beans with garlic powder
Mashed potatoes(white) with dill weed or garlic
Pasta with wee dab of butter and oregano and/or basil
Oatmeal or other cereals with fruits and cinnamon & nutmeg, dash of vanilla
Rice Pudding/Custards with cinnamon, nutmeg, dash of vanilla, cardamom, ginger
Spices may offer additional benefits other than changing a boring food into a new experience. Did you know that herbalists tout the following spices for their benefits.
- Ginger - good for tummy upsets
- Cinnamon - good for tummy upsets, diarrhea, possible anti-fungal and anti-bacterial
- Garlic - anti-biotic, blood pressure
- Coriander - aids gassiness, stimulates appetite, helps rheumatisms and joint pain
- Dill - hiccups, colic, digestive troubles
- Mint - stimulates healthy digestion, helps respiratory issues
Break out the spices and introduce your baby to the wonderful world of healthy flavour!
Cinnamon - 15 November 2007
Nichole wrote to us to let us know of a reaction that her daugher had to cinnamon:
"My daughter is 10 months old and i am slowly introducing foods to her as allergies are common in my husbands family. Today was the day I decided to introduce cinnamon to her because of the upcoming holiday season. She has severe burn where ever the spice touched her face. I even did my own touch test which resulted in the same redness. I hopped on the internet and did some research (of course after calling her ped.)it turns out that even though it is rare if you are allergic to cinnamon it is usually a bad one. I should have checked with her ped. first (bad mommy) but I just thought you guys would like to know."
Most often, a skin (dermatological) reaction to cinnamon is from the cinnamon oil and cinnamic aldehyde. As you may have read, many people with a cinnamon sensitivity cannot even chew gum or brush their teeth with any product that contains even a hint of cinnamon oil. A reaction to the actual powder seems to be less severe and less common. Cinnamon allergy is so very rare and cinnamon is not amongst the "usual suspects" when it comes to a sensitivity or an allergy!
In looking at cinnamon allergies, there are two components of cinnamon that doctors know to cause an issue: Cinnamon oil and cinnamic aldehyde. Cinnamic aldehyde is the most common of the allergenic constituents and is used in many forms in many products. It's extensive use makes it difficult to diagnose what caused a reactions. People who have a cinnamon allergy may be exposed to it from many sources.
Many doctors note that people react to cassia, a relative of cinnamon, and not to cinnamon itself. This is mostly true for those who seem to experience a reaction from a food that does not contain cinnamon oil. Cassia is so closely related to cinnamon that it is used as a spice and called "culinary cinnamon". Cassia has a more intense flavor and is also more of an astringent than is "true" cinnamon. "True" cinnamon is the highest grade of cinnamon and is more mild, sweet and it's bark is softer. It is from the cinnamomum zeylanicum tree which is found in Sri Lanka. The odds are 99 to 1 that the cinnamon you purchase in the grocery store is not true cinnamon but is actualy cassia! True cinnamon is a very rare find in a grocer's spice aisle!
If your baby shows skin sensitivities to certain foods and there is a history of many food allergies on either side of the family, you may wish to wait to introduce cinnamon until 10-12 months of age. You may do a "test" for a sensitivity by gently placing a small amount of the ground cinnamon powder on your baby's arm or cheek. Dip a cotton swab in a bit of cinnamon and tap some of the spice off. A reaction will occur in the form of redness and/or swelling.
Spice Mixes & recipe
*Not all of these recipes will be appropriate for some infants due to an infants age. You may substitute or leave out ingredients as you need.
Anise Potato Bread (YUM!)
Ingredients:
2 pounds potatoes
1/2 cup hot milk
1/2 ounce dried yeast
3 pounds flour (about 6 cups)
1 tsp. salt
2 tablespoons aniseed
Cook the potatoes, peel and mash with the hot milk over low heat until it resembles a batter. Dissolve the yeast in 1/3 cup of water, let stand until foamy. When the batter has cooled to room temperature mix in the yeast, flour, salt and 1 tablespoon aniseed. Knead well and allow to rise in a warm place for about 4 hours. Put into greased loaf pans, sprinkle with remaining aniseed on the top of dough. Bake in a 375 degree oven for 50 minutes or until done.
Poultry Seasoning Blend
Use this seasoning blend to flavor chicken, turkey, duck, or Cornish game hens. It also makes a great addition to any kind of stuffing that you serve along with your poultry dishes. If you don't have access to fresh herbs you may substitute 1 teaspoon of the dried herb for 1 tablespoon of fresh.
1 teaspoon celery seeds
1 tablespoon fresh marjoram - minced
1 tablespoon fresh sage - minced
1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
Sweet Spice Blend
This recipe makes approximately 3 tablespoons of sweet spice blend. This blend is perfect to use throughout the holidays in all your apple and pumpkin pie recipes. This blend also tastes terrific sprinkled on top of eggnog.
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground allspice
Seeds of Knowledge - "Sweet Spices"
Resources & Learning More:
Phytochemical Database - USDA
Natural Health @ Suite 101
Herb Info. at WholeFoods
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