Locally made baby foods becoming big business

MomSeattle · DadSeattle · SPI · MySeattlePix · My account

Local

US/World

Sports

Business

A&E

Life

Comics

Photos

Opinion

Blogs

Buy Ads

NWsource

Wednesday, July 19, 2006

Locally made baby foods becoming big business

By HSIAO-CHING CHOU
P-I FOOD EDITOR

Baby food has gone fresh organic -- and it's becoming big business.


		SCOTT EKLUND / P-I
	Aleister Zin Alfstad, 4 months old, is ready to start tasting Sprouts organic carrots fed to him by his mother, Elisa Hahn.

Not satisfied with the quality of the usual grocery-store baby products, parents-turned-entrepreneurs have taken their desire to feed their children unadulterated foods made from the freshest locally sourced ingredients and turned it into a micro-industry.

Across the country, several regional companies -- including Sprouts Baby Food and TotPots in Seattle -- have established themselves in the past couple of years as an alternative for food-conscious parents.

The foods these companies produce generally contain no preservatives, sugars, salt, artificial colors or starchy fillers that many national brands depend on. They are fresh products that must be stored in the refrigerator -- and used within several days -- or frozen.

Organic baby food is not a new concept. According to ACNielsen, the sales of organic baby foods grew 57 percent from 2001 to 2005. But the homegrown businesses reflect a new trend.

John Anderson, a self-taught chef and co-founder of TotPots, started out cooking a week's worth of baby foods on Sundays for his son, Mason, who is now 3 years old.

"Then I started to do it for the nanny share (members) and then for friends," Anderson said, "and then, by word of mouth, we started to get subscribers."

At first, TotPots, based in a commercial kitchen near Green Lake, delivered. But the logistics became overwhelming and Anderson decided at the end of 2005 that it was best to stick with retail. He and his wife, Whitney, a pediatrician, began selling this season at two Seattle farmers markets. Just recently, Whole Foods and Metropolitan Markets picked up the brand and are selling it in their stores.


		SCOTT EKLUND / P-I
	Clockwise from upper left: TotPots cherries and mint; Sprouts carrots; Sprouts Washington apple sauce; TotPots edamame (soybeans).

What makes TotPots foods stand out is not only that they are organic, but the ingredient combinations are out of the ordinary: black bean and banana, yellow beet and dal, cherries and mint, black mission figs with grapes and dates. Also, Whitney Anderson helps ensure the concoctions her husband creates are nutritionally sound.

As much as he can, Anderson tries to source seasonal ingredients from fellow farmers-market vendors. Currently, for example, TotPots is featuring a raspberry and fig combination with the raspberries coming from a farm in Monroe.

"We want to create a lifestyle business that stays small and maintains local relationships," said Anderson, who gets inspiration for TotPot items from looking through his extensive collection of cookbooks. Soup recipes, in particular, are easy to adapt for a neophyte palate.

"Almost everything you do for an adult can be turned into something for a kid," he said. "There's no reason you shouldn't be able to eat your baby's food, either. The yellow beet and dal would make a phenomenal soup (for adults) with some cream added."

Nutrition and flavor are key reasons why Mischelle Davis launched Sprouts Baby Food.

While she was pregnant with her son, Jackson, who is now 17 months old, Davis changed her lifestyle to "clean out" her system in order to get "pregnant healthy." She knew she would make her own baby food when the time came and thought it would be convenient if someone actually delivered homemade baby food.

The idea stuck in the back of her mind and has developed over the past year or so. She consulted with a naturopathic physician and partnered with her friend, Adreanna Vaughan, who is a registered nurse and has a background in nutrition. Together, they rented space from Starry Nights Catering & Events (the former Cuizam! kitchen in Kirkland) and began testing recipes.

Davis, formerly in marketing at Microsoft, researched the baby-food industry and discovered that most companies add significant amounts of water, thickeners and other fillers.

"Most of the vitamins are taken out by the process required to give the food shelf life," Davis said. "Even if there are no preservatives, the food still has to be sterilized. The flavor is cooked out and the vitamins have to be put back in."

To her, that's not cost-effective or worth feeding to her son. She understands that parents who look at price first will be drawn to the 50-cent jar of baby food. But, she asks, why give your child something that's essentially "synthetic?"

"I am so passionate about healthy food for babies," Davis said.

Vaughan, who also was Davis' doula, added: "Babies don't have fully developed digestive systems. So, providing carefully chosen, nutritionally balanced foods each day is critical to minimizing inflammatory responses in the digestive tract."

Inflammation, she said, "is a risk factor for numerous health conditions."

Davis was convinced that the homemade baby food she gave Jackson was better for him after she and her family went on vacation for a week.

"The baby was on jar food and he was irritable, couldn't sleep well and his (waste) stunk," she said. "It really messed with his system."

She keeps some mass-produced baby food on hand to show potential customers the difference in color alone between her products and the others. The store-bought foods tend to be grayer. Sprouts foods are bright and fresh-looking.

Davis said there are in-depth nutritional analysis sheets available for all the Sprouts products online. Sprouts is taking sign-ups for delivery service, which begins Sept. 5.

If you enjoy cooking and have the time, making baby food at home is no more difficult -- or costly -- than cooking for yourself. Annabel Karmel, a London-based author of cookbooks on preparing food for children (www.annabelkarmel.com), explains nutrition in her latest "Super Foods for Babies and Children" (Atria Books, 192 pages, $24.95).

After discussing the concept of super foods -- foods that provide the optimum nutritional values and serve as preventive measures -- the book's chapters are divided by food stages to make it easy for parents to determine what is most suitable for their children.

The most basic purees involve fresh vegetables, a steamer and a food mill.

"There is nothing wrong with giving babies prepared foods for the sake of convenience," writes Karmel, "but don't believe these preparations are a healthier option."

FIRST CARROT PUREE (FROM 6 MONTHS)
MAKES 4 PORTIONS

4 medium carrots

Wash and peel the carrots and chop or slice into even-size pieces. Put in a steamer or colander set over boiling water and cook until tender (15-20 minutes). Alternatively, put the vegetables in a saucepan and pour in just enough boiling water to cover. Cover and simmer until soft (15-20 minutes).

Puree until very smooth together with some of the cooking liquid or some of the water in the bottom of the steamer. The amount of liquid you add really depends on your baby; you may need to add a little more if your baby finds it difficult to swallow.

To microwave, place the carrots in a suitable dish. Add 3 tablespoons cooled boiled water and cover with microwave-safe plastic wrap. Pierce a few times and cook on high 9-10 minutes, stirring halfway through the cooking time. Blend to a puree, adding some extra cooled boiled water to make a smooth consistency.

Spoon some puree into your baby's bowl and serve lukewarm.

From "Super Foods for Babies and Children"

AVOCADO AND BANANA (FROM 6 MONTHS)
MAKES 1 PORTION

1/4 avocado

1/2 small banana

1 to 2 tablespoons your baby's usual milk

Mash the avocado together with the banana and the milk. You can substitute the flesh of half a small papaya for the banana in this recipe. If using papaya, the milk is then optional.

From "Super Foods for Babies and Children"

SWEET POTATO AND BROCCOLI (FROM 6 MONTHS)
MAKES 3 PORTIONS

1 medium sweet potato, peeled and diced

3 broccoli florets

Steam the vegetables until tender (sweet potato: about 12 minutes; broccoli: 7-8 minutes). Puree together with a little of the water from the bottom of the steamer. Spoon some of the puree into your baby's bowl and serve lukewarm.

Note: Broccoli is best steamed as boiling it in water halves the vitamin C content. If your baby isn't keen on the taste, mix it with a sweet-tasting vegetable like sweet potato, rutabaga or butternut squash.

From "Super Foods for Babies and Children"

SEATTLE'S OWN

TotPots

Features three stages of infant food with interesting combinations, such as cherries and mint, golden beet and dal, red beet and raisin, quinoa vanilla rhubarb. Toddlers have choices such as baked ziti with Secret Agent sauce (pureed tomato, spinach and carrots); Moroccan couscous with sweet potato, carrot and mint; Yakima asparagus and brown rice.

Look for the products at Whole Foods, Metropolitan Markets and the farmers markets in the University District and West Seattle; will ship nationwide.

A 5-ounce jar of baby food costs $3. An 10-ounce jar of toddler food is $4.

Contact: www.tot-pots.com; 206-679-8245.

Sprouts Baby Food

For a separate membership fee, offers menu plans tailored to a baby's needs. "Doctor's menu" caters to babies with allergies or other special needs. Flavors include carrot, yam, pea, pea and carrot, pear, pear and apple, squash and apple, fruit medley.

Weekly delivery; will ship nationwide.

The cost of 12 items per week (minimum order) starts at $24. (Delivery service begins Sept. 5.)

Contact: www.sproutsbabyfood.com; 206-427-5100

TASTE TEST

We sampled TotPots' edamame flavor and five brands of peas that listed peas and water as the only ingredients.

Gerber Tender Harvest Organic Sweet Peas (4 ounces/$1.29): sugary sweet flavor seemed artificial; starchy, grainy texture; color was grayish-green.

Earth's Best Organic First Peas (2.5 ounces/50 cents): sweet followed by an odd tartness; finished with starchy texture; color was grayish-green.

Del Monte Nature's Goodness (non-organic; 4 ounces/49 cents): chalky, starchy texture; hint of pea flavor; watery.

Naturally Preferred Organic Garden Peas (4 ounces/59 cents): salty on first bite; soupy texture; barely any pea flavor; color was grayish-green.

Sprouts Baby Food Organic Peas (4 ounces/$2): clean flavor that tasted like fresh peas; not starchy; bright green.

TotPots Edamame (TotPots doesn't have peas; 5 ounces/$3): bright light-green color; slightly grainy, but tastes like freshly shelled edamame (soybeans).

P-I food editor Hsiao-Ching Chou can be reached at 206-448-8117 or hsiaochingchou@seattlepi.com.

Add P-I Food headlines to