Introducing condiments to your child’s diet

09:47 (GMT+2), Wed, 18 April 2012

When it comes to feeding their children, parents often stick with quite simple, ‘safe’ dishes, such as cheesy pasta and tomato sauce. However, you‘d be surprised at the flavours your children will probably enjoy. Adding flavours that you enjoy as adults to your child’s dish is a great way to get your child accustomed to different flavours from an early age, and will discourage fussy eating.

Choosing the right condiment
You need to be careful if you’re adding pre-made sauces or condiments to your child’s food, as some have strong flavours that aren’t suitable for a child’s palette (such as strong curry pastes). The sauces may also contain ingredients such as sugar, salt and additives. The best thing to do is to always check the label. Ingredients are written in order of their quantity, so if sugar and salt or something you haven’t heard of feature high on the ingredient list, put it back on the shelf.

Ready-made sauces are predominantly high in salt and sugar, so while a Bolognese or tomato sauce in a jar may seem like the quick option for a healthy family meal, check the label first. Making your own tomato sauce doesn’t take too much time, and you’ll end up with a far tastier dish that you know is healthy.
Stir-fries are quick and delicious meals that you can pack full of different vegetables. Make a simple sauce with a little soy sauce and nam plau (Thai fish sauce), or oyster sauce.
Curries are surprisingly popular among children, and they don’t have to be high in fat and salt like the ones you associate with take-away curries. Make your curry with mild curry powder or a bit of korma paste and mix in something to add a bit of sweetness, like apple slices and mango chutney (things like mango chutney often contain sugar, so read the labels if you want to avoid too much sugar in your child’s diet).

Soy Sauce
Soy sauce is a popular addition to dishes such as stir fries, but people are often wary about the sodium content. It should be used in moderation, and should only be used sparingly in dishes for children under four years. Soy sauce can occasionally cause allergic reactions, mainly because of the wheat it contains. If you think your child may have an allergy to wheat, look for a soy sauce that doesn’t contain any wheat. Soy sauce has also been found to have health benefits; dark soy sauce in particular contains anti-oxidants.

Ketchup
Tomato ketchup is an extremely popular sauce with children all over the world. Parents often worry about using this too often because of its sugar levels. Try buying an alternative tomato sauce that’s low in salt and sugar, (and isn’t full of other additives to replace that sugar and salt). Tomato ketchup isn’t all bad though; as it’s tomato based, it contains a lot of lycopene. Lycopene is full of anti-oxidants and can help the body in many ways. Adding a little tomato ketchup and sweet chilli sauce to healthy foods like salmon fish cakes makes them more appealing to children.

Olive Oil
Olive oil is a top source of oleic acid, an omega-9 fatty acid (OEA) which helps keep brain cells healthy. Babies need a very different diet to the low in fat, high in fibre diet that adults need. Babies need fat in their diet, and not too much fibre, as they’re growing at an extremely fast rate. Olive oil is great to cook a baby’s food in.

Pesto
I find that children often like pesto. Mix mayonnaise with a little pesto and spread it over a tortilla wrap. Put some sliced tomatoes and mozzarella onto the wrap, season with a little salt and roll it up. It’s easy to make your own fresh pesto sauce for pasta. You can also add a little pesto to salad dressings.