CATEGORY
Organic Baby Food Juice
2007 CHEFSBEST® AWARD FOR BEST TASTE WINNER
Earth's Best
What Makes a Great Organic Juice for Babies?
After babies reach an age of about eight months, some parents offer them juice as a sweet and filling alternative to the milk or formula they’ve eaten up to that point. Some pediatricians recommend baby food juice as a special treat for babies, as well as a digestive aid. Made from organic ingredients, these juices are a healthy and safe way to help babies expand their diets.
Our chefs define a high-quality baby food juice as having a medium gold color for pear juice, and a color that varies from light to dark gold for apple juice. The color of both juices should reflect their natural fruit color.
The intensity of apple aroma should be moderate in a baby juice, and pear aroma should be even lighter than apple. There should be no off notes in the aroma or flavor, including hints of packaging or handling. Opening a bottle of baby food juice, you shouldn’t sense any improper smells that would make you think twice about serving it to a baby.
Juices for babies have optimal taste balance when sweetness is the most evident basic taste. For baby apple juice, the sweetness should not be too sweet for babies to enjoy, and there should also be sourness at about half the level of sweetness. For baby pear juice, the sweetness should be slightly higher, with a low sourness to balance it out.
Fruit should be the dominant flavor in baby juices. Other fruit flavors, like grape, may also be present, but they should not overwhelm the apple or pear flavors.
For baby apple juice, there may be some minimal astringency, which our chefs define as “the tendency of some foods to make your mouth pucker.” The astringency may vary depending on the type of apples used, but it should never become pronounced. Baby juice should have a light mouth-weight and a clean finish. It should not be heavy or have an overly sweet finish.
Product Category Definition
The product judged was defined as organic baby food juice for the consumer market, not including any other shelf-stable, refrigerated, frozen or non-organic fruit juices. This judging included apple and pear organic juices.
Other Leading Brands:
Gerber
ONE-STEP IDEAS
Make sure to wait until your baby is at least six months old before giving them juice.
Mix half and half with fresh water when first introducing to your baby.
Pour a little juice into your baby’s cereal to help moisten it.
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TASTING
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FUN FACTS
- Organic baby food is that which is processed without the use of artificial pesticides and/or synthetic fertilizers.
- The American Academy of Pediatrics estimates that 90 percent of babies under one year of age drink juice.
- The average U.S. household will have at least one organic product by 2025.
The ChefsBest Award for Best Taste is awarded to the brand rated highest overall among leading brands by independent professional chefs.
