Video:Homemade Baby Food

Transcript:Homemade Baby Food

Hi, I'm Rachel Edelman for About.com Food. Today I'm going to show you how to make homemade baby food. I'll be talking about different fruits and how to prepare them.

Tips for Making Baby Food

Babies between 4 and 6 months old are ready to start integrating solid food into their diet. Remember to check in with your pediatrician before making any changes to your baby's diet.

When making baby food, be sure to wash your hands and use clean equipment and tools.

Use the Proper Fruits

Apples, melons, apricots, bananas, and avocados are some of the most nutritious fruits to start with. Be sure to introduce new foods at the rate of once per week, so you can pinpoint any allergies. Do not feed citrus or strawberries to babies under 1 year old.

Prepare the Fruit

Some fruits like bananas and avocados can be mashed with a fork and served to babies right away. Other harder fruits, such as nectarines and apples, should be cooked and mashed or pureed. Always peel and remove seeds from all the fruits.

For example, wash an apple, then peel it and cut around its core. Cut the fruit into small, even-sized chunks for cooking.

Many parents choose to use only organic fruits and vegetables. Consult your pediatrician about what's best for your baby.

Cook the Fruit

Let's add some dried apricots to our chopped apples. These are organic Turkish apricots. Pour water into a saucepan, enough to cover your ingredients. Bring it to a boil, and add the fruit. Cook for around 15 minutes.

You can use dried, frozen, or canned fruits. If stored in syrup, rinse off some of the sugar before cooking.

Puree the Fruit

When the fruit is tender, remove it from the water and put it into a blender, food processor, or food mill. Save some of the cooking water for later.

Puree the fruit until all of the lumps are gone. Depending on the equipment and the type of fruit that you are using, this may take some time.

If you want to be especially careful not to have any seeds or skin, put the mashed fruit through a sieve. This is most important for younger babies.

Serve the Baby Food

Once cool, serve the baby food and discard any leftovers. Store pureed fruit in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to three days.

You can add the reserve cooking water to the food and mix it together to make the puree thinner. You can add rice cereal to make it thicker.

You can also freeze it in an ice cube tray, and once frozen, keep the cubes in a plastic bag and store them for one to three months.

Thanks for watching. To learn more, visit us on the Web at food.about.com.