How do I make blended baby meat less bitter without sugar?

November 29, 2014 9:01 AM

Blended baby meat - from the store or blended myself - tastes bitter and unpleasant. What are some good ways to make it taste better without using a sugar-heavy sauce?
posted by clawsoon to Food & Drink (15 answers total)

add some salt. not a whole lot, especially since it's for a baby.. but salt helps block the bitter receptors on the tongue.
posted by royalsong at 9:03 AM on November 29, 2014 [2 favorites]

Best answer: Mix in carrots or another vegetable that's a little sweet to begin with.

also am I the only one who goggled at the idea of baby meat? it took me a bit to go, oh, meat for babies, not meat out of babies...
posted by Hermione Granger at 9:05 AM on November 29, 2014 [75 favorites]

Add a bright fruit flavor like pineapple. My son wouldn't eat any meat baby food until I mixed it with fruit. One part ham, one part pineapple, a few blueberries. It turned out purple and I called it "Hamtastic Voyage."
posted by daisystomper at 9:08 AM on November 29, 2014 [17 favorites]

After I had jaw surgery and had to eat blended foods, I found that the most palatable was jam with pineapple juice, also. Using chicken broth (should that occur to you) is dangerous business as it will make the meat outrageously salty, even for an adult.

I don't have a baby, so what the heck do I know, but I've read that part of the reason that it's suggested to introduce vegetables before fruit is that once babies get used to the sweetness of fruit, they won't be like vegetables if they're introduced later -- you want to acclimate the baby's tongue and tastes to some bitterness. Given this, I wonder, if the baby is ok with it (and maybe he's not and that's why you're asking), but if the baby is ok with it, I might leave a little bitterness rather than adding sugar (as sugar or via sugary foods).
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 9:18 AM on November 29, 2014 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Heh, yes, meat for baby, not meat of baby. Reminds me of the classic corny joke.
posted by clawsoon at 9:26 AM on November 29, 2014 [4 favorites]

Yes to carrots. Naturally sweet veggies are perfect. Start with mostly vegetable and just a little meat if babe isn't too keen. I've done pot roast dinner purée with mostly carrot, a little onion (very sweet when roasted) and some meat.

I also have done butternut squash mixed with chicken or beef, which seemed to go over

We also used pouches (Sprout brand maybe) of sweet pea and mint or sweet potato if something I made didn't appeal to babe.
posted by Swisstine at 9:41 AM on November 29, 2014 [1 favorite]

Mix in pumpkin, butternut squash or sweet potato, even carrots would work. Easy to roast or just boil up.
posted by wwax at 9:52 AM on November 29, 2014

Instead of prepping a blend you could just prechew some of whatever you're having.
posted by doctord at 10:00 AM on November 29, 2014 [2 favorites]

Good stew meat cooked slowly in a little water until it falls apart, then puréed, should not have any bitter taste. It doesn't to me, and I am ridiculously sensitive to bitter tastes. If the meat tastes bitter, I would want to get some better meat to feed my baby.
posted by artistic verisimilitude at 10:33 AM on November 29, 2014 [4 favorites]

You can give babies most herbs & spices. It's probably easier to throw whatever meat you're eating in the blender than to try to do everything for the baby separately. In fact, if you want to skip blending altogether look into baby led weaning. I found it to be a lot less work and I ended up eating better myself because I was paying more attention to what my infant was trying out.
posted by HMSSM at 11:31 AM on November 29, 2014

No salt in baby food! That's crazy pants! Anyways add sweet fruits and veggies to the mix. It's a myth about babies needing veggies before fruit. Breast milk is naturally very, very sweet tasting. Babies are pretty much programmed to go for sweet from day one.

I have done both home made baby food and baby led weaning (one baby would have none of blw). The most popular meat dishes were chicken cooked in a slow cooker in water/apple juice then blended with cooked apple and roasted sweet potato. I added cinnamon once allergies were ruled out.

For beef I simmered a good quality steak in a bit of water with carrots and peas. Again mixing up the flavor by adding rosemary and thyme later on.

The website Once a Month Mom was a great resource for making healthy baby food in bulk. Multiple recipes are included. I used ice cube trays to freeze the purées and then gallon Ziploc bags for storage.
posted by saradarlin at 12:22 PM on November 29, 2014

In response to a comment above- in Australia we're told to not add salt to babies or small children's food under any circumstances.

Our health professionals told us to take it as an opportunity to reduce the salt in our own diets. We stopped cooking with any salt and only added it as individuals at the table. We didn't let our kids have any added salt (it's in all manufactured food) till they were about four years old. Even now it's only eggs and tomatoes that warrant permission.
Government guidelines about salt.
http://www.healthdirect.gov.au/salt-facts

Carrot is perfect, as is pumpkin.
posted by taff at 12:34 PM on November 29, 2014

Response by poster: Sounds like mixing in a slightly sweet vegetable like carrots or pumpkin is the consensus. Thanks, everyone!
posted by clawsoon at 1:38 PM on November 29, 2014

My baby absolutely loved it when I sautéed a pork loin with apples, onion and rosemary, and pureed it into a nasty looking mush. He gobbled it up like crazy.
posted by gatorae at 1:57 PM on November 29, 2014

Response by poster: I took a couple of the onion suggestions and simplified: Sauteing the meat with some onion and then blending them both together works reasonably well and is quick and easy.
posted by clawsoon at 3:05 PM on January 17, 2015 [1 favorite]