Would you like to start feeding your baby apples? Would you like to learn how to make apple baby food? Apples are an easy food to turn into baby food!
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Apple Baby Food
When it comes to our children, we as moms want to give them the best! We want them to be healthy and we want them to have the best start at life possible!
A great way to give your baby the best optimal start is to make your own baby food! Unfortunately store bought baby food can be laden with chemicals and other nasty ingredients.
Making your own baby food fresh is a great way to not only avoid these nasty ingredients, but to give your baby the freshest, most nutritious food possible!
When all four of my children were babies I made my own baby food for them. If you have never done it before, then don’t worry, it’s very easy! I’ll walk you step by step through the entire process:)
And I know it sounds time consuming, but it’s really not. You can make up a whole months worth of baby food in just a few hours!
How to Make Apple Baby Food
So let’s get started and go make some apple baby food!
The only ingredients that you will need for this recipe are apples, and possibly a little filtered or reverse osmosis water.
The first step is to wash and peel the apples. Also be sure to remove the core and seeds.
Apple peels are a choking hazard and should not be fed to baby until three years of age.
Homemade Apple Baby Food
There are two ways that you can prepare apples for your baby.
One way is to peel and grate raw apple for baby. Baby should be 8 months to eat grated apple.
The other way to prepare apples for your baby is to puree it.
Apple Puree Baby Food
To puree the apples I highly recommend purchasing a Vitamix Blender to make your baby food with. It is one of the best blenders and will blend baby food to a super smooth consistency to insure that you do not end up with apple chunks in the baby food that baby can gag on.
This is the only blender that I will use when pureeing not only baby food, but other recipes such as Sweet Potato Pie or Apple Butter as well! It is the best! And it lasts FOREVER! I have had my Vitamix for over a decade and it’s still going strong and purees foods just as good as the day I got it! Definitely worth investing in!
So add the peeled, cored, and chopped apples to the blender. I usually fill mine about 1/3 to 1/2 full at a time and blend in batches to help speed the process up. You might need to also add a little water at this time. Only add water if the apple isn’t blending well because it’s too thick. If your apples are really juicy then this might not be a problem.
Start with a few tablespoons as you can always add more. Like I said, if the apples get too thick they will not blend well. So keep stopping and scraping down the sides of the blender as needed and adding water until all the apples are smooth and blended well.
You want it to be somewhat thick and not runny, so don’t add too much water. You basically only want to add as much water as is needed to help the blender out. Otherwise the apples will just stick to the sides and won’t fall down to the blades.
Once all the apple is blended to a super smooth consistency you have baby food! Yep, it’s that easy!
How to Store Homemade Baby Food
But wait, we’re not done yet!
What are you supposed to do with this large batch of apple baby food?
Like I mentioned above you can make a LOT of baby food in a short amount of time. The key is to freeze the apple puree that you won’t be using in the next couple of days for later.
However, you don’t want to freeze it all together. You want to be able to freeze it in serving sizes so that you can easily thaw out and use a small amount at a time. This way you can have baby food for a month or more!
How to Freeze Baby Food
To freeze baby food efficiently you really need to get these baby food cube trays. They’re kind of like ice cube trays that have lids.
Simply scoop the pureed apple into the trays, place the lid on, and put it in the freezer. Once they are completely frozen you can pop them out and store them in freezer bags that are labeled with the date made.
Apple does tend to darken once cut and pureed. It will still taste perfectly fine but if you’d like to keep your apple puree from darkening, and if your baby is old enough, you can add a little lemon juice to the apple puree. Again only do this if your baby is old enough for citrus.
Now you have a large supply of ready made, single serving, apple baby food cubes! How easy is that?!
How to Thaw Frozen Baby Food
When it comes time to use your frozen apple cubes you need to be sure that they are thawed in advance.
There are a couple of different ways to thaw out apple baby food.
The easiest is to put it in a bowl with a lid the night before and let it thaw in the fridge. That way the next day it will be soft and ready to use.
However, I know from experience, that this isn’t always an option! There were many times that I forgot to lay my baby food out and had to do it just before serving it.
I really don’t recommend thawing baby food in the microwave. Not only does it leave hot spots in the baby food that can burn your baby, but it also is bad for the baby food! You can read here about the dangers of microwaves and why I don’t have one.
So, the best way to thaw frozen baby food cubes quickly is the fill a bowl that is a little larger than the bowl holding the baby food with hot water. Sit the bowl with the cubes in the hot water. The heat will be enough to cause the cubes to melt.
You might have to change the water a few times and add fresh hot water as it gets cold. Also occasionally turn the cube and break it up as it gets softer to help speed up thawing.
I know this might seem like a pain, but it’s the best way to thaw the cubes so that they don’t get too hot for baby and the best way to preserve the nutrients in the food that you worked hard to make!
Be sure to test the thawed apple to be sure that it is not hot before feeding it to your baby.
Making Apple Baby Food
And that’s how you make homemade apple baby food!
Now the only thing left to do is to serve it to your little one:) I hope they enjoy it as much as you enjoy giving your baby the healthiest food possible!
For additional baby food recipes be sure to read:
How to Make Zucchini Baby Food
How to make Green Bean Baby Food
How to Make Sweet Potato Baby Food
How to Make Butternut Squash Baby Food
Apple Puree Baby Food
Make your own baby food! Apples are a great option for homemade baby food!
Ingredients
- Organic Apples
- Filtered or RO Water (possibly)
Instructions
The first step is to wash, core and peel the apples.
Apple Puree Baby Food
Next you need to puree the apples.
Add the apple pieces to the blender. I usually fill mine about 1/3 to 1/2 full at a time and blend in batches to help speed the process up. You might need to also add a little water at this time. Only add water if the apple isn't blending well because it's too thick. If your apples are really juicy then this might not be a problem.
Start with a few tablespoons as you can always add more. Like I said, if the apples get too thick they will not blend well. So keep stopping and scraping down the sides of the blender as needed and adding water until all the apples are smooth and blended well.
You want it to be somewhat thick and not runny, so don't add too much water. You basically only want to add as much water as is needed to help the blender out. Otherwise the apples will just stick to the sides and won't fall down to the blades. But like I said, because apples are usually very juicy you might not need to add any liquid.
Once all the apple is blended to a super smooth consistency you have baby food! Yep, it's that easy!
