Basic vegetables in children's nutrition: broccoli and cauliflower

If the food is chosen by means of purees, they are very easy to introduce in them, since their flavor is relatively smooth.

If you choose a food directed by the baby, they are more interesting if possible, since, by their shape, they are very easy to handle by their still inexperienced hands. By removing the hardest parts of the stem, the small clusters, both broccoli and cauliflower, can be easily caught without the need to master fine motor skills.

The cooking of broccoli and cauliflower gives off a rather unpleasant smell due to its content in sulfur compounds - they give off sulfur when cooked - although this is not inconvenient for consumption in childhood. Steamed, they keep all their micronutrients, which are many, and when they are cooked in another way, they are lost in cooking water. Let's see what are its main advantages:

• Both broccoli and cauliflower are characterized by their high content of water and dietary fiber and by their absence of cholesterol.

• They barely provide fats, and their content in protein and hydrates (complexes in their majority) are minimum, reason why their caloric contribution is low.

• They are good sources of folic acid, a vitamin of great importance in childhood, since it participates in the production and maturation of red blood cells, important to prevent anemia, and white blood cells or leukocytes, responsible for combating infections.

The cauliflower is preferably between September and January, although today, with advances in crop issues, we can have them throughout the year. This cruciferous, which consumes only the inflorescence, provides a considerable amount of B vitamins, in addition to vitamin C and minerals, such as potassium, calcium, phosphorus and magnesium.

Broccoli, also belongs to the Brasiliaceae family or cruciferous, and are characterized by harvesting during the spring and summer, although we can find them in supermarkets practically throughout the year. Broccoli or broccoli is high in vitamin C, vitamins B1 and B2, vitamin A, vitamin E, as well as calcium, phosphorus, iron and iodine.