At what age can mushrooms be given to children?

Many adults like mushroom dishes, but with the arrival of a child in the family, mothers often hesitate to cook mushroom soup or potatoes with mushrooms for the family, knowing that the baby will probably want to try such food. Opinions about the age of inclusion of mushrooms in the children's diet differ among both parents and doctors. And if the attitude towards forest mushrooms is quite wary in almost everyone, then there are disputes about the possibility of using mushrooms by children.

Some argue that these mushrooms are much easier to digest than forest ones and may well be included in the children's menu if they are selected and cooked correctly. Others are sure that children do not need any mushrooms, even champignons. Let's see when you can cook a dish with mushrooms for your baby and whether such mushrooms are useful for children.

The benefits of mushrooms

Because of the potential for digestion problems, many adults consider mushrooms to be a useless food that should not be offered to children at all. Nevertheless, high-quality mushrooms have a high nutritional value. They give the human body vegetable proteins, fiber, vitamins C, PP, D, A, group B, calcium, easily digestible fats, potassium, phosphorus and many other compounds. In addition, champignons are a source of enzymes and organic acids.

It should be noted that most of the nutrients in the composition of mushrooms are concentrated in their caps, and chitin, which is harmful to the child's body, is more present in the legs. For this reason, only mushroom caps are suitable for baby food.

Why mushrooms are harmful

The restriction on the use of mushrooms in childhood is associated not only with the content of chitin in such a product, which is not digested and interferes with the absorption of other nutrients. Forest mushrooms absorb many substances from the soil, including dangerous ones. But, if we are talking about mushrooms purchased in the store, such a lack of mushrooms is excluded. For this reason, the inclusion of champignons in the diet of children is permissible a little earlier than mushrooms collected in the forest.

At what age to give?

Some doctors do not recommend giving any mushrooms to children under 10-14 years old, but many pediatricians, including Yevgeny Komarovsky, believe that it is permissible to try champignons from 2 years of age. In what all doctors are unanimous - it is unacceptable to offer champignons to a one-year-old child.

A child who is 2 years old can be given mushrooms that are grown industrially. First, they are included in the children's menu in small quantities, for example, as part of a sauce or in the addition of several mushrooms to the main dish. Over time, you can cook peeled and well-cooked pieces of mushrooms for your child. At the same time, the frequency of consumption of dishes with mushrooms for a child under 5 years old (for example, at 4 years old) is limited to once a week.

Many doctors recommend to postpone acquaintance with any mushrooms, including champignons, to the age of 7-10 years. They associate this recommendation with the fact that the digestive system of school-age children is already fully formed, so there will be no problems with the digestion of mushroom dishes. If the child has any problems with the gastrointestinal tract, the introduction of mushrooms into his diet before the age of 10 is highly undesirable.

How to choose mushrooms for a children's menu?

Children should only be given store-bought mushrooms, as these mushrooms do not absorb harmful compounds from the soil like wild mushrooms. Buy small mushrooms of a light shade for baby food. Avoid buying darkened, slippery, or flabby mushrooms. You should also not purchase excessively large mushrooms, since they are overripe and contain fewer nutrients.

If you buy prepackaged mushrooms, carefully study the information on the packaging - the date of mushroom collection, the date of their packaging, and the expiration date. When you bring the mushrooms home, be sure to remove them from the film and store in the refrigerator for a maximum of 24 hours. If you are not going to cook anything with them right away, you can send the mushrooms to the freezer, where they can be stored for up to 1 year.

Dishes with mushrooms for children

Delicious mushrooms such as champignons go well with vegetables, potato or meat dishes. They can be an ingredient in vegetable casseroles, cabbage rolls, omelets, soups.

Many adults also love a variety of pastries with mushroom filling, but it is not recommended for a children's menu, since the combination of mushrooms with dough is rather difficult to digest. Only offer pancakes, pizza or mushroom pies to children from the age of 14.

Cream soup

For this dish, take one onion, one potato and one medium carrot, as well as about 500 g of mushrooms. The soup making process will be like this:

Pour 500 ml of water into a saucepan, place the container on the stove and wait until it boils.
While the water is heating, peel the vegetables and chop them finely, and then put them in boiling water.
Leaving the onions, carrots and potatoes to cook, wash, peel and chop the mushrooms.
Dip the mushrooms in the vegetable broth, cook the soup until all ingredients are cooked over low heat.
Remove the pot from the stove and use the hand blender to create a puree soup.
Salt the finished dish to taste, and sprinkle with herbs and season with sour cream. Serve it deliciously with oven-dried wheat croutons.

Most children like this soup, but you cannot give it to a child who has not tried mushrooms before. Let the baby first get acquainted with mushroom dishes in the form of a sauce.

Sauce

The sauce made from champignons allows you to add a new aroma and pleasant taste to the usual dishes of chicken, potatoes or rice. This recipe is suitable for children over three years old:

Wash, peel and boil 8-12 small mushrooms in 500 ml of water.
Chop one peeled onion and lightly fry in a little vegetable oil, then add to the broth.
Fry a tablespoon of flour in a dry skillet. When it acquires a golden hue, salt and, with constant stirring, pour hot mushroom broth into the fried flour.
Boil the sauce for about 10 minutes, then remove from heat and add 2 tablespoons to the dish. tablespoons of butter. If desired, you can also add chopped greens to such a mushroom sauce.