Pears are a versatile fruit that can be combined with many other ingredients to make a deliciously nourishing baby food.
Remember, always consult with your pediatrician regarding introducing new foods to your baby.
How to prepare Pears for baby food
before we jump head first into some delicious pear baby meals, let us take a step back and examine how you can easily prepare pears.
The majority of recipes will call for your pear to bee peeled and cored. Fortunately, the process is dead simple. If you have never peeled a pear before, simply follow the instructions below.
Grab your potato peeler (or vegetable peeler, whatever you call it) and work your way around the pear peeling vertically from top to bottom.
Next, grab an apple corer and stab it vertically through the center of the pear. Your corer should enter where the top stem is and exit out the bottom center of the pear.
If needed use a knife to cut horizontally across the base of the pear to remove any peel or "bottom stem" you missed.
If you are cooking a lot of baby food with pear or apples then a great corer can really make your life easier.
I personally use the OXO corer below, I love the large easy to grip handle as well as the fact that I can throw it in the dishwasher without a second thought.
Apple/Pear Corer
Style: As pictured.
Features:
Stainless steel head.
Easy to use.
Dishwasher safe.
Now that you know how to ready a pear to use in baby food recipes, let us look at some tasty meals you can prepare to test your pear preparation skills.
1. Simple pear baby puree
A simple single ingredient recipe starring pears. Quick, easy and tasty.
Ingredients:
4 sweet ripe pears (peeled, cored, cubed)
Directions:
Steam pears for 10 minutes or until soft and leave to cool.
Add steamed pear pieces to blender or food processor and puree until it reaches your baby's preferred consistency.
Bonus Tip: If looking to add a second ingredient to mix up this recipe, pear goes well with apples, avocado, banana, blueberry, mango peach, or even breast milk or formula.
2. Vanilla baked pears
Baking helps bring out the natural sweetness of pears. This recipe uses cinnamon as an optional ingredient as some baby's don't like the flavor. If your baby loves cinnamon, be sure to include it.
Ingredients:
4 sweet ripe pears (cored, halved)
1 vanilla bean pod of seeds (halve bean, remove seeds)
(optional) 1 pinch of cinnamon
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F
Place pears face down in a baking dish.
Place dish in oven and bake for 25 minutes or until the skin is golden and puckered and the flesh is tender.
Set aside pears to cool then using your fingers, peel the skin (the skin should easily peel right off).
Combine roasted pears, vanilla and cinnamon (if included) in a blender or food processor and puree until smooth. Serve as is.
Refrigerate for 3 days or freezes for up to 3 months.
3. Baked pear baby mash
A plain variation of the above recipe. Baked pears make a wonderful finger food or can be mashed further.
Ingredients:
4 sweet ripe pears (skin removed and cored, quartered)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F
Place pears in a baking dish and fill with approximately one inch of water.
Bake pears for 25 minutes or until soft and tender.
Allow pears to cool. At this point, they can be used as finger food. If your baby prefers puree or mash, continue one.
Either mash pear with a fork or add to blender and puree until your baby's preferred consistency is reached.
Bonus Tip: Looking for a way to mix this recipe up? Bake 3 peeled bananas (cut lengthways and then halved) along with the pears and mash together for a sweet and creamy meal.
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