Spices in Baby Food

Organic cinnamon! I read it's supposed to be good for the developing brain too, who knows if that's really true or not. :) You can do that with the squash and the sweet potatoes. You can actually use it also with roasted mango and apples. yum.

With the parsnips just a tiny amount of garlic powder...I did that with my daughter's homemade food and she's almost 2 and loves garlic.

In every other country in the world, babies eat mashed up adult food - spices and all. So don't worry about going light on the spices. You'll be doing your daughter a favor if you introduce flavors now... and you might just avoid the two year old picky stage where all she'll eat is bread and chicken nuggets.

For squash - I'd do rosemary, sage, thyme, shallots, or pepper
For carrots - lemon, orange zest, and ginger
Sweet potatoes can handle just about anything - my personal fave is a bit of paprika and garlic
I have no idea for parsnips as I hate them!

Actually, cinnamon goes well with all of those! Use a light hand with it, though. My son loved and still loves Cinnamon. You could also use nutmeg, or any spices that go well in pies.

Butternut squash - cumin, cinnamon, curry, onions& thyme
Parsnips - carraway
Carrots - lemon, ginger
All roasted root vegetables - olive oil & rosemary

And no honey until 1 year of age (can harbor botulism which infants are more susceptible to.

babies' palates are not adult. i would go very, very lightly with spices and seasonings. it's good for babies to grow up knowing and appreciating the unenhanced flavors of foods.
a tiny dash of salt or cinnamon would be okay. i'd stay away from brown sugar. cardamom or ginger would also be good.
but very, very sparing, if any at all.
khairete
S.

When I made babyfood for my son I would add a hint of butter, cinnamon and brown sugar to carrots, squash and sweet potatoes. I never made parsnips though...

Try ginger or nutmeg for spices - they work well. If you want to mix in another veggie - try carrots.

I would go with cinnamon, nutmeg, and thyme. When I make butternut squash puree, I use shallots, thyme, honey, salt, and pepper, but for baby food, I would be sparing with sweeteners, salt, and butter/oil as they aren't needed. Rosemary adds a nice depth of flavor to winter squashes, and ginger and/or a bit of orange juice/zest go well with carrots.

There was a recent article on how the bland, dumbed-down flavor of baby food is not necessary and babies can handle strong flavors, spices, a bit of heat, etc. so just prepare these foods as you might for the rest of your family, then puree and serve.

http://www.boston.com/community/moms/articles/2011/05/04/...

Cinnamon is definitely a great spice, it regulates blood-sugar among several other benefits that folks have mentioned. other great ones to add to the orange root veggies you mention are nutmeg, cumin, cardamom, cloves (just a pinch!), really any of the traditional middle-eastern spices, and for parsnips I think more of herbs like tarragon and then also garlic. I would definitely not add sugar, honey, brown sugar, any sweeteners to anything I'm feeding my kids. someone else mentioned wanting kids to appreciate the natural or plain flavors of foods, and I sort of agree, but I think that herbs and spices add a great deal to the nutritional value and to your child's experience of foods. sweeteners, however, add nothing beneficial and interfere with your child's developing palate. but you probably already know that since you're making your own baby food... :)

cinniman would be a great spice for squash and sweet potatoes. carrots and garlic go well together.

cinnamon is good with any sweet veggie