CATEGORY

Organic Baby Food Cereal

2007 CHEFSBEST® AWARD FOR BEST TASTE WINNER

Gerber

What Makes a Great Organic Baby Food Cereal?

After three or four months of age, most babies are ready for solid foods. To satisfy these hungers, parents turn to baby cereals for a tasty introduction to solids. Oatmeal, in particular, has a pleasing texture, plus plenty of complex carbohydrates and fiber to promote good health. Rice cereal has a pleasing texture as well, with a sweet flavor that babies want again and again. Made from organic ingredients, these cereals are a healthy—and safe—way to help babies eat right.

Our chefs define a high-quality baby oatmeal cereal as having a tan color while baby rice cereal should have an ivory color. Neither should be gray. The grain aroma should be minimal, but still clear. There should be no aroma or flavor off notes, including metallic and cardboard notes from packaging. You shouldn’t sense any improper smells that would make you think twice about feeding it to a baby.

Sweetness should be the only evident basic taste in baby cereal. Coming naturally from the grain, the sweetness should be relatively low. There should be no bitterness or added sweeteners.

The grain character is not expected to be complex, but it should have some notes of fresh grain, rather than stale or old grain notes.

Oatmeal cereals may or may not have some grittiness. If they do exhibit grittiness—most likely coming from germ flakes—it should be minimal to avoid irritating babies’ sensitive palates. With rice cereal, the mouth-weight should be lighter than oatmeal, but not as light as milk. The finish should be clean, not starchy, and there should be a fast dissolve. A waxy finish that leaves a film on the palate might be bothersome, making babies not want to eat the cereal a second time.

Product Category Definition

The product judged was defined as organic baby food cereal for the consumer market, not including regular adult, granola, cereal bars or non-organic products. This judging included organic rice cereal and organic oatmeal.

Other Leading Brands:

Earth’s Best