Refining Baby's Palate

Feeding children can be all too harrowing a task. But thanks to Petite Palate ($58 for a packet of 24), a line of organic, nutritious baby food packed with flavor, mealtimes promise to be a lot more appetizing. Created by two chefs (and new mothers) who trained at London's Cordon Bleu and the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco, Petite Palate is designed to nurture infants' and toddlers' taste buds from the first bite. While jarred baby foods undergo a heating process to make them shelf-stable — destroying many of the vitamins and nutrients that exist naturally in the food — Petite Palate items are flash-frozen, maintaining the nutritional content and shelf life. The variety of meals, which are geared at instilling healthy dietary habits early on, includes lentil stew, purée of garnet yams, spinach potato purée, and banana peach blend. Available in New York City in the freezer sections at Whole Foods, Grace's Marketplace, and Zabar's. For more information, go to petitepalate.com.