First Puree

SINGLE PUREE

“Single puree” of either fruit or vegetables was Harvey’s solid food for the first few weeks. It’s dependent on how your baby develops before progress on to the next stage, which is “Mixed purees”. Harvey progressed relatively quickly and after two weeks we decided to give him solids twice per day. By the time Harvey reached his 5 1/2 months, he was on 3 meals a day.

Notes: Formula was still Harvey’s main meal. We both continue to monitor his formula intakes to ensure that he continues to drink at least 500mL per day.

The two main cooking techniques [1] I used to prepare the puree were:

A. Moist heat cooking

Steaming: when the steam is released from water once it reaches its boiling point of 100C (at sea level). Food is in contact only with the steam
Boiling: when the food is submersed in liquid e.g. water at the highest temperature consisting of rapid movement with many large bubbles.

B. Dry heat cooking

Roasting: uses the air or convection to transfer heat to an ingredient at a control time and temperature.

The key element here is to ensure the food texture has been cooked until soft for puree while retaining as much nutrition as possible. I used the cooking times from the Annabel Karmel Cookbook as a baseline when preparing my single puree. Check the fruit & vegetable and ensure that the products are soft prior to puree.

Single Puree

Vegetable/Fruit	Preparation	Cooking Method	Cooking Time (Minutes)
Carrot	Peeled, washed, chopped into small size	Steam and puree to the desired consistency	15-20 min
Apple	Peeled, cored, chopped into small size	Steam and puree to the desired consistency	10-12 min
Sweet Potato	Washed, pierce with folk	Roast in the preheated oven @ 200 C degree and mash with folk	60-75 min
Pear	Peeled, cored, chopped into small size	Steam and puree to the desired consistency	5-7 min
Blueberry	N/A used from frozen	Steam and puree to the desired consistency	5-7 min
Broccoli	Washed, trimmed stalks, reserve florets	Steam and puree to the desired consistency	5-7 min
Peas	N/A use frozen	Steam and puree to the desired consistency	5-7 min
Beans	washed whole beans	Steam and puree to the desired consistency	7-10 min
Spinach	N/A use frozen cube	Steam and puree to the desired consistency	5-7 min
Butternut	washed, cut into wedges	Roast in the preheated oven @ 200 C degree and mash with folk	45-60 min

No Cooking Required Puree

Fruit such as Banana, Avocado, Papaya, Mango, blueberries, melon, and ripe stone fruits are handy to have around the house, as they do not require cooking. Simply mash them with fork or blend it together and serve. You could also add either breast milk or formula or baby rice cereal to make it like a smoothie (although I decided not to use baby rice for Harvey).

Mixed Puree

Once Harvey started to become familiar with solids, I started to mix and match purees together. At about 5 1/2 months, we decided to introduce meat & poultry along with some potential allergenic food include wheat, egg, dairy (yogurt), fish and peanuts (peanut butter). Harvey did not show a sign of reaction to any of the foods.

I generally have several different types of single purees in our freezer, which allows me to mix and match them together. All that is required is reheating of the puree.

Here are some good puree combinations – Enjoy 🙂

Key Element	Good mixture	Preparation	Cooking Method	Cooking Time (Minutes)
Banana	Rock melon	Remove the skin and any seeds from the rock melon	Simply blend the two elements together using a handheld blender	3 min
	Avocado	Halve one avocado, remove the stone and scope out the flesh	Mash the two elements together	3 min
	Blueberry		Steam the blueberry and blend with the handheld blender. Add banana to the blueberry puree, mash with fork to combine	5-7 min
Apple	Pear	Peeled, cored, chopped into small size	Steam the two ingredients by starting the apple about 3 minutes prior to the pear as it takes longer to soften.	10-12 min
	Blueberry		Steaming	5-7 min
Sweet Potato or Carrot puree	Broccoli puree	See single puree table for preparation & cooking methods	Simply mix the purees together	2 min
	Spinach puree	See single puree table for preparation & cooking methods	Simply mix the purees together	2 min
	Peas puree	See single puree table for preparation & cooking methods	Simply mix the purees together	2 min
	Parsnips puree	See single puree table for preparation & cooking methods	Simply mix the purees together	2 min