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The baby is growing, he no longer has enough breast milk and the time comes for the introduction of the first complementary foods. Pediatricians advise using zucchini for the first feeding. It is good if this time comes in spring or early autumn, when zucchini grow in the garden, and it is not difficult to get them on the market.
In winter, of course, you can also buy zucchini, but it's not a fact that they were grown and preserved without the use of chemicals. You can, of course, buy ready-made squash puree in the store, or you can prepare them yourself. How to freeze zucchini for feeding babies will be discussed in our article. If done correctly, they are perfectly stored in winter.
About the benefits of zucchini
Zucchini is considered a dietary vegetable that normalizes the water-salt balance of the human body, removes excess fluid. In addition to sodium, magnesium, potassium, phosphorus, iron and copper, it contains a large amount of vitamins of various groups. And, most importantly, delicate fiber is easy to digest. It is not for nothing that this pumpkin relative is called the northern pineapple. That is why the vegetable is recommended for baby food from infants, including for the first feeding.
The effect of the vegetable on the child's body is multifaceted:
- A large number of various vitamins strengthens the immune system, contributes to the formation of the nervous system.
- The contained minerals contribute to oxygenation of the blood, therefore, the activity of the brain is improved.
- Delicate fiber helps to improve peristalsis. It is essentially a mild laxative.
Zucchini has a neutral taste, so small children eat mashed zucchini well. As for its congeners - pumpkin and zucchini, because of the dense pulp and special taste, children often refuse mashed potatoes from these vegetables.
Zucchini puree:
Choosing the right zucchini
Young mothers and grandmothers are interested in the question of how to properly freeze zucchini for babies. First of all, you need to know which vegetables to choose for storage in the freezer.
- Not all zucchini are suitable for baby food: you need to choose young specimens, which have a delicate skin, and the seed chamber is practically not formed. It is in these frozen vegetables that after thawing, whole pieces are preserved after thawing.
- Vegetables should be fresh, smooth, thin and shiny skin.
Correctly frozen vegetable can be used for the first feeding without fear. After all, all nutrients, vitamins and trace elements are stored in it. Prepared from frozen zucchini mashed potatoes, light soups. Zucchini can be baked just like fresh vegetables. As your child gets older, you can make soups and purees with other vegetables.
Freezing zucchini for the winter
General rules for preparing vegetables for freezing
It is important to know not only how to freeze zucchini for the first feeding for babies in winter, but also the correctness of their preparation. What needs to be done so that the vegetable benefits children, retains its nutritional and taste qualities.
Basic Rules:
- Having chosen young specimens, we reject zucchini for freezing, even with the slightest flaws.
- We wash the vegetable in several waters to get rid of the slightest pollution.
- Cut off the ends and peel. This is easy to do with a vegetable peeler.
- Rinse the peeled vegetables again with cold water and dry.
The first stage of preparation has been completed. We start freezing zucchini.
Freeze with cubes
- Cut the prepared and dried vegetables into strips. Then we prepare small cubes. They should be no more than 2 cm, then the freezing will be more intense, which means that the beneficial properties will be preserved better. The center of the zucchini with the seed chamber can be left on or removed with a spoon.
- Pour clean water into a saucepan so that the sliced pieces can fit in it. If you live in a city apartment, then it is best to buy bottled water for blanching zucchini for feeding babies, it does not contain chlorine. Place the saucepan over high heat and bring to an intense boil.
- When the water boils, add the cubes and blanch for 5 minutes. No more, otherwise they will boil!
- We put the blank for freezing in a colander and let the water drain. In this container, let the zucchini pieces cool completely.
- Stretch cling film on the board (so that the zucchini does not freeze to the board) and spread the dried zucchini pieces on it at a short distance so that they do not freeze. Place in the freezer for about 4 hours. This time is enough for the zucchini to not freeze into one lump in the future.
- Remove the baby food freezer and transfer to a plastic bag or container. Make a label for each bag, noting when it was frozen. And again in the freezer.
In this state, the workpiece will be stored for a long time without losing its nutritional qualities.
Squash puree in the freezer
Pediatricians advise mothers to breastfeed babies after four months with artificial feeding and after six months if breastfeeding. It is this vegetable that provides intestinal peristalsis. In addition, there are a lot of useful qualities in zucchini. How else can you prepare zucchini for the winter for feeding a small child?
It is not necessary to buy ready-made mashed potatoes in jars, because you can prepare it yourself for the winter. It is not difficult to make a blank, and, most importantly, you will always be sure of the quality of baby food.
- We wash the young without damage zucchini, peel them off. The middle may not be cut out if the seeds have not yet formed.
- Cut the vegetable into pieces and boil in boiling water for no more than 10 minutes. Boiling and blanching removes nitrates from the zucchini.
- We put the vegetables in a colander so that the liquid glass.
- Using a blender, prepare the puree. It turns out to be homogeneous and tender.
- The cooled mass is frozen in ice cube trays or small containers. Single serving portions depend on the age of the child. We place them in the refrigerator.
We put the frozen cubes into a plastic bag and put them away for storage.
How to properly freeze courgette puree for complementary foods:
Useful Tips
Heed our recommendations:
- cut the zucchini into small pieces, so they freeze faster;
- put in the bag the amount of vegetables required for one complementary food;
- there should be no meat or fish semi-finished products in the chamber next to the zucchini;
- after taking out the zucchini from the freezer, do not wait for them to completely melt, immediately subject them to heat treatment.
As you can see, there is nothing terrible and complicated. The main thing is desire and love for your baby. In winter, you don't have to buy zucchini and mashed potatoes at the store. Just take the freezer out of the chamber and cook any vegetable dish for your child.
