Hi Hi! During the apple harvest season, the question of how to prepare these fruits for future use becomes relevant. The most popular preparations are: clear jam, marmalade or all kinds of compotes. More experienced chefs make real homemade wine from the fruits. But few people process fruits into purees, but in vain. After all, the dessert turns out to be very tasty and healthy.
Applesauce is usually prepared according to one recipe, and the classic version involves a brew without any additives. This, in turn, is good because the product can be used in baby food and used as complementary food for babies. Usually the delicacy has a sweet and sour taste and has a pronounced fruit aroma.
If you are making treats for children, I recommend using baby food jars for rolling, it’s very convenient!
You can use all the recipes as a basis, they are proven and 100% high quality. And in order to diversify the taste of the dessert, instead of sugar, you can add berries, other fruits, cream and condensed milk, as well as ground cinnamon.
The benefits of applesauce for children
In the modern world, the choice of purees for babies is very diverse. You can purchase ready-made goods in the store, or you can make fresh puree from homemade apples yourself. Applesauce is suitable for both quick consumption and preparation for the winter season.
Attention! Pediatricians warn that apple complementary foods should be introduced only after vegetable foods. The baby gets used to the sweetness of the apple and rejects cereals and vegetables in the future.
Composition and nutritional value
Fruit purees are very popular among mothers who care about adequate nutrition for their baby, thanks to the nutrients and vitamins they contain.
Children's pediatricians recommend introducing apple complementary foods to all infants, since the fruits are saturated with vitamins A, B and C. Iron, which is part of the fetus, helps increase hemoglobin. Apple antioxidants strengthen the immune system, and potassium and calcium are involved in the proper formation of the skeleton.
Apple and plum puree
At the end of August - beginning of September is the time to prepare delicious apple and plum puree for children. It’s great if plums and apples ripen in your personal garden, then you can definitely vouch for their quality. However, from purchased fruits (preferably from farm plots, not from the supermarket), you can prepare an equally tasty delicacy for infants and older children.
Ingredients:
- Apples – 0.7 kg (weight of peeled apples).
- Plums – 0.3 kg (weight without seeds).
- Granulated sugar – 100 gr.
- Water – 1 tbsp.
Cooking process:
- Wash the plums, cut them in half and remove the seeds, and finely chop the remaining pulp.
- Wash the apples, remove the skin, remove the cores, and chop the pulp into cubes.
- Place the apples in a saucepan, add a glass of water (or half), bring to a boil and simmer covered for 10 minutes.
- Next, add plums to the apples and simmer until tender after boiling (approximate time - 10-15 minutes).
- Turn off the heat and puree the puree with an immersion blender.
- Bring the puree to a boil again, add sugar and cook over low heat for another 5 minutes. If the puree is still liquid, then the cooking time can be increased.
- Place the finished apple and plum puree into sterilized, dry jars, seal them with lids and let it cool under a blanket (place the jars upside down on the lids).
- Store the cooled puree in a cool place.
Bon appetit!
Fruit selection
Store-bought jars of fruit mixture contain food additives: citric acid, sugar and starch. If a child suffers from food allergies, then the finished product is contraindicated for him.
To be sure of the quality and naturalness of the ingredients, you should prepare your own applesauce. Doing this at home is as easy as shelling pears, the main thing is to find fresh and high-quality fruits.
It is highly not recommended to make puree from apples that have been subjected to chemical treatment or long-term storage. An ideal option for a baby would be green apples from their own tree, but not everyone has their own garden. You can buy fruits from familiar gardeners or summer residents. It is almost impossible to find natural fruits on the market - even farmers selling “eco” products use chemical fertilizers.
Apple and zucchini puree for children
Zucchini is a great vegetable to add to applesauce. This vegetable almost never causes allergies, has a neutral taste and contains many important minerals and vitamins, which is why pediatricians recommend zucchini as the first vegetable complementary food for infants. We advise you to prepare homemade applesauce with zucchini so that you can feed your kids truly healthy food.
Ingredients:
- Apples – 1.5 kg (weight of peeled apples).
- Zucchini (or zucchini) – 1 kg (weight without peel and seeds).
- Granulated sugar – 5-8 tbsp. or to taste.
- Salt – a pinch.
- Water – 1 tbsp.
Cooking process:
- Prepare the zucchini and apples: wash and peel and core them. If the zucchini core is soft, then it is enough to remove only the seeds.
- Cut the pulp of apples and zucchini into small cubes.
- Place the chopped zucchini and apples in different saucepans and add half a glass of water to each.
- Simmer the apples and zucchini separately until soft. The stewing time is individual: 15 minutes is enough for sweet, soft apples, and 25 minutes for zucchini. Make sure that the mixture does not burn while stewing; if necessary, add a little more water.
- After the mixture has simmered in both saucepans until tender, puree it with a blender (or grind it through a meat grinder) and place it in a common saucepan.
- Pour sugar into fruit and vegetable puree, boil it and simmer all together for no more than 5 minutes. If the puree turns out to be liquid, then simmer it a little more so that it thickens more.
- Place the finished apple and zucchini puree into sterilized jars right up to the necks (preferably small ones) and seal tightly. Cool the puree upside down under a blanket and store it in the cold.
Bon appetit!
Tip: when putting puree into jars, make sure that there are no air bubbles left in them, otherwise the puree may spoil.
How to make applesauce correctly
By canning apple mixture, young mothers provide their baby with a supply of healthy vitamins for the whole winter. Applesauce, homemade from natural ingredients, is better absorbed by the newborn’s body. On the Internet you can easily find a variety of recipes for fruit purees for newborns.
Cooking in a blender
To use this method, you should thoroughly wash the apples and then pour boiling water over the fruits so that the skin can be peeled off better. Next, cut into slices, after removing seeds and membranes. Grind the resulting pieces in a blender until smooth. If the baby has sensitive digestion, then it is best to boil the apple pulp in a water bath.
Important! If a baby has loose stools, then it is necessary to abandon fresh fruits and switch to heat-treated apples.
Apple and apricot puree
Homemade apple and apricot puree is so tasty that not only children, but also adults will want to eat it! The luckiest ones, of course, are those of us who live in warm climates: there apricots grow in the same quantity as apples on our own plots. However, you can easily cook this healthy sweet from imported apricots, so that you can feed your children with a first-class preparation even in winter!
Ingredients:
- Apples – 3 kg (weight of peeled apples).
- Apricots – 1.5 kg (weight without seeds).
- Granulated sugar – 1 tbsp. or to taste.
- Water – 1-2 tbsp.
Cooking process:
- Wash the apricots, cut them in half and remove the pits, and finely chop the remaining pulp.
- Wash the apples, peel and core them. Cut the pulp into small pieces.
- Simmer the apple pieces in a large saucepan until soft, separately from the apricots, adding a little water to prevent them from burning. The larger the volume of fruit, the longer it will take to simmer until done.
- Simmer the apricots at the same time as the apples until completely soft, but in a separate pan, also with a small amount of water.
- Blend the finished apple and apricot puree with an immersion blender until smooth, and then combine in a common saucepan.
- Add sugar to the puree and simmer until the sugar dissolves (5-7 minutes).
- Place the finished apple and apricot puree into sterilized dry small jars, seal with lids and let the puree cool upside down. Cover with a blanket.
- Place the cooled puree in the cold.
Bon appetit!
Who can apples harm?
But not every apple will provide 100% benefit to a child’s body. Limiting the consumption of apples, or abandoning certain varieties, is necessary if the baby has health problems.
- For children who suffer from ulcers, gastritis, ulcerative colitis, the permissible norm is 2 apples per week of the sweet variety.
- Doctors advise diabetics to eat only green, sour varieties of apples, also in moderation.
- Malic acid softens tooth enamel, so you should not immediately eat the apple with foods containing sugar.
Difference between green and red apples
Doctors consider green apples more useful because they contain more acid to improve stomach function, vitamins C and ascorbic acid.
Red apples taste sweeter and contain more iron.
The benefits of apples
For children's first apple complementary foods, sweet and sour varieties of this fruit will be suitable. Over time, dishes from fresh or baked fruits can be included in the children's diet. Apple complementary foods contain a number of useful compounds, such as pectin, fiber, vitamins, organic acid, and essential oil.
For a baby to have full growth and development, iron, potassium, carotene and calcium, which are contained in the fruit, are very important. Mineral components help strengthen muscles, normalize and calm the nervous system.
Fresh apples contain enzymes that promote rapid digestion of food. They serve as protection for the baby’s body from the harmful effects of the atmosphere and strengthen the immune system. Applesauce is an excellent remedy for constipation, it improves appetite and strengthens blood vessels. Frequent consumption of such a dish helps normalize blood sugar and cleanses the body of toxic substances. The advantage of apples is that they almost do not cause allergic reactions.
Can I have juice?
Parents of infants are often concerned about whether to give their child apple juice. Previously, it was introduced into complementary foods at 3 months. Today, pediatricians do not recommend giving juice to infants and it is better to introduce it to your baby after a year. The reason is the high content of acids, which negatively affect the child’s fragile digestive system. It is up to the parents to decide whether to introduce juice or not, but in any case there is no need to do this before 6 months. A one-year-old child should not be given more than 100 grams per day.
The juice is administered very carefully, giving the baby a few drops at a time. Initially, they give pure apple or pear juice, then you can mix them, add various fruits and berries. You can replace juice in your baby’s menu with berry and fruit compotes.
Combination
Apple mass for infants can be combined with almost all fruits and vegetables. The most popular combinations:
- Apple with pear. The fruits should be boiled, then mixed in a blender. For an older baby, you can prepare a mixture with the addition of cinnamon or cranberries;
- Apple and banana. Grind the fruits in a blender. It is possible to add breast milk to the mixture;
- Apple with pumpkin. You need to take 1 pumpkin slice and 1 apple. Place these products in a slow cooker and steam. Mash the prepared vegetables, add butter and milk. This mass can be given to a child in the absence of allergies;
- Apple with carrots. Take 1 carrot and 1 apple. Boil the fruits in a saucepan and grind them in a blender.
Babies do not eat their usual food, so try to pamper your child with different mixtures.
Preparations for the winter
In the summer, it is easier to prepare complementary foods, but in the winter, many mothers buy ready-made baby food, as they rightly doubt the quality of purchased fruits, and the concentration of many vitamins decreases greatly during storage. But you can prepare complementary foods for your baby in the summer if you have fruit from your own plot or if you have the opportunity to purchase high-quality, unprocessed apples.
Puree for the winter
Baby puree is prepared for the winter in the same way as for daily complementary feeding. The fruits are peeled, placed in a pan and steamed. Only after they are crushed, the puree is put back on the fire and poured boiling into the prepared container. Jars and lids need to be washed and sterilized well. If sterility is maintained, the product is perfectly stored even at room temperature.
When preparing complementary foods, you need to take into account the fact that the baby is growing and will be older by winter. Therefore, you can add a variety of fruits and berries. Homemade puree can be added to porridge and other dishes; it will appeal to not only the child.
What varieties of apples are suitable for babies?
For complementary feeding, a good option would be an apple grown in an environmentally friendly place, for example: your own garden. But if you don’t have your own fruits, choose domestic varieties: Antonovka, Semirenko apple, white filling. Imported varieties can be harshly treated with various chemicals, contain GMOs, even though they look like something out of a picture: large, beautiful, shiny, ideal in shape, in general, without a single defect, but the benefits of such an apple are many times less.
The place of apples in complementary foods
It would seem that with a large presence of useful substances, an apple is one of the first foods that a baby should try. But that's not true. If quite recently children's doctors advised starting complementary feeding for infants with fruits, now this is not the opinion that has changed. It is believed that the first dishes that a baby will eat should be vegetables and cereals. This is what Dr. Komarovsky and many of his followers think. The apple is introduced a little later and given in small portions. Fruits lead to intestinal upset and even gastritis, and in general this is a very heavy food for a baby’s gastrointestinal tract.
There is one more nuance that you should be aware of. Having tried something sweet, the baby is able to refuse other foods that are also very necessary for his body.
It is better to start giving apples to your child after he has already tried vegetable puree, cereals, and fermented milk products. However, there is no need to rush too much. Let the baby try a new product after getting used to other dishes, for example, rice porridge. It will take a few days before you start introducing apples into your diet. The main principle here is single-componentity.
Once the baby has already become familiar with vegetables and cereals, it is time to feed him apples. If:
- The first week of complementary feeding with other products was successful;
- the baby has a tendency to anemia and requires more iron;
- he has constipation or flatulence.
“Apple age” should begin after six months, when the baby has already become accustomed to other dishes that are more suitable for the first feeding. Then it's time for applesauce.
The first portion is a quarter of a teaspoon. After the baby eats the apple, he is supplemented with breast milk. Your goal is to introduce your baby to a new product, and not to replace it with full-fledged breastfeeding. To understand the cause of allergies or flatulence, the mother is recommended to feed the baby a one-component formula, only made from apples.
Introducing a child to apples
Pediatricians have different views on the timing of introducing complementary foods. Much depends on the individual characteristics of the baby. Today, the optimal age is 6 months for babies fed on breast milk. Babies whose main source of nutrition is formula milk can be introduced to complementary foods 1 or 1.5 months earlier.
In order for your baby’s introduction to apples to be successful, you need to choose sweet and sour green apples. Why green? Because they rarely provoke allergic reactions. Green apples are the richest in pectin, which has a beneficial effect on digestion. The presence of this component will help the baby more easily assimilate the new product.
So, the child has already tried apple juice and received good impressions of its taste. The amount of juice consumed is gradually increased to the age norm. If everything went well and no unwanted digestive or allergic reactions occurred, then you can move on to applesauce.
Composition of apple
An apple consists of 80% water, organic compounds, pectin (a polysaccharide whose function is to normalize metabolism through the establishment of intestinal contractions), minerals, and vitamins.
Due to their high iron content, red apple varieties can help support anemia. Even apple jam relieves sore throats due to laryngitis; just eat a couple of spoons with warm lemon balm tea.
Applesauce is a great addition to children's diets because:
- Apples contain antioxidants that strengthen the baby’s immune system.
- The apple contains all B vitamins, a large amount of vitamin C, A and PP.
- Apple is a source of iron, fructose, magnesium, and stimulates kidney function well.
- Apples improve appetite and, thanks to their fiber, are easily digestible.
Apple, pumpkin and orange puree
Aromatic puree of citrus fruits, apples and pumpkin is such a tasty treat that all little gourmets will love! Even for those who do not want to eat pumpkin as a separate product because of its specific taste and smell... But pumpkin cooked together with apples and oranges does not have its own taste and smell at all, it smells like oranges and has a sweet-sour fruity taste. The weight of fruits and pumpkin in the recipe is indicated in peeled form.
Ingredients:
- Pumpkin – 1.5 kg.
- Apples – 1.5 kg.
- Oranges – 2 pcs.
- Granulated sugar – 0.5 kg.
- Water - as needed.
Cooking process:
- Wash the pumpkin, peel it, cut into small cubes.
- Place the pumpkin cubes in a thick-bottomed pan and simmer over low heat, adding water.
- In another saucepan, at the same time as the pumpkin, simmer the apple pieces, also pouring them with a small amount of water so that they do not burn, until they release their juice.
- Wash the oranges, remove the peel, disassemble into slices. Cut each slice into several parts, remove the seeds.
- Place orange slices into the softened pumpkin and simmer until tender.
- Remove the apples and pumpkin with oranges, stewed until soft, from the heat, and puree in a blender until smooth. Place the mixture into a common pan.
- Next, simmer the puree with sugar until it dissolves completely.
- Place the finished puree into dry, sterilized small jars and seal tightly with lids.
- Let the puree cool under a blanket (place the jars upside down on the lids).
- Store cooled fruit and vegetable purees in a cool place.
Bon appetit!
Store-bought or homemade?
Many mothers do not want to prepare purees for their babies themselves. And this is understandable - why waste energy and time when you can open ready-made applesauce and immediately give it to your child. However, it is not always possible to buy a quality product. There are manufacturers who add starch to thicken mashed potatoes diluted with water. To keep the taste of the product natural, sugar and citric acid are added. Such information is not always present on labels. Starch is difficult to digest, and sugar can lead to an allergic reaction in infants. Making baby puree is actually very easy and doesn't take much time.
How to choose the right apples in the store
Cauliflower puree for babies - recipe
Choosing the right apples to puree at home is not difficult. The main thing is to listen to the advice of experts. Children's nutritionists believe that for a mother deciding how to make applesauce for her baby, fruits grown on her own plot are useful. If you have to buy apples in stores, then the best ones are:
- Domestic varieties are green “Simirenko”, light-skinned “White Naliv”, and sour “Antonovka”. They are rich in nutrients and very rarely cause allergies.
Important! Local apples are good because they are adapted to a particular region, but they can only be purchased during the harvest season. When stored, fruits lose vitamins, so they are used for homemade purees only when freshly picked.
Domestic varieties of apples are recommended for complementary feeding for small children.
- Imported fruits can be purchased at any time of the year, but pediatricians advise treating them very carefully, since during transportation they are treated with a chemical composition, which can be harmful to the child.
Advice. When buying apples, you don’t need to focus on appearance. Often an indicator of the naturalness and natural purity of fruits is their lack of presentation.
Reviews about complementary feeding with apples
Experts give only general recommendations on complementary feeding. But for mothers, everything is individual. Some start with cereals, others with vegetable purees, and others very quickly introduce apples into their diet.
Elena started giving apples along with vegetables. Her baby didn’t refuse vegetables and, like her mother, she ate apples with pleasure. Soon she began to eat half an apple.
Svetlana believes that after eating sweets, the child will not want to eat broccoli and other vegetables. She fed him, as experts recommend, first with vegetable purees, then with porridge, and only gave him an apple to suck on.
Anna was convinced that after fruit the baby did not want to eat vegetables. A friend who was with her in the maternity hospital hurried to introduce fruits into the diet, and now her child does not want to eat vegetables.
https://www.babyblog.ru/community/01medicina/post/3062915
A little about choosing apples
To make homemade applesauce, you need to choose fruits that have not been treated with chemicals. The best option is to use apples from your own garden. If there is no apple tree on your plot, then when purchasing it is better to give preference to domestic varieties:
It is important to look where the apples grew. If the fruits were brought from afar, then you should refuse the purchase: preservatives were most likely used to preserve the fruit during transportation.
A common mistake when choosing apples is when preference is given to smooth, glossy fruits. But fruits have a beautiful appearance when treated with wax.
