Ways to Help Your Little Love Herbs + How It can Help Selective Eating
I love to talk about the healing benefits and medicinal uses for herbs - mostly because I think many people don't realize how powerful they are. I also dont think many people (who don't love to cook) realize what a big difference adding culinary herbs and spices to different dishes can make to the overall flavor and appeal of a meal to our taste buds.
To sing their praises even more, using herbs as a pathway to help your little ones overcome their fear of trying new foods is also beneficial for many reasons. Mostly importantly because exposing children to the smells and aromas of different herbs like basil, rosemary, cilantro, mint, etc can, consequently, open up their tolerance to different tastes. "How does this work?" you might ask. This works because the olfactory sensory system (our sense of smell) is closely linked to the gustary sensory system (our sense of taste) in a way that SMELLING always precedes TASTING.
In other words, if you can get your little to approve of and accept the smells of different spices and herbs, they are more likely to try and enjoy a wider variety of culinary dishes.
Here are 10 Ways to Help Your Child(ren) Learn to like Herbs
Start an herb garden with your kiddos - Herbs are one of the easiest garden plants to grow and maintain and you can start growing them indoors or outdoors. Teach your child(ren) the different names of the herbs and smell and taste them together.
Make a DIY Herb Smelling + Guessing Challenge Box - In a small plastic container, collect 5-10 of your favorite culinary herbs and spices and have your little(s) take turns smelling and guessing which herbs are inside and then trying to figure out which smells remind them of which foods. For example - basil can remind us of pizza, oregano of spaghetti and cinnamon of cookies.
Have your little(s) help you "decorate" pizza with Basil - Who doesn't love making pizza?! Its one of my favorite cooking activities to do with the kids. Let your child "decorate" the pie by adding basil or oregano to the pie top. This will desensitize their eyes, hands and nose to the herb before mealtime.
Have your little(s) help you de-stem the rosemary leafs right off the branch - This activity will desensitize their hands, eyes and noses to the wonderful smell of rosemary.
Add cilantro to your favorite homemade guacamole - You can have your little(s) help you chop and mix it right into the dish. Here is the link to my favorite cilantro loving 5 Minute Guacamole.
Add fresh dill to your favorite tuna fish salad - We make our favorite fish salad using wild salmon, sardines, onions, dill, pickles, mustard and mayo. The dill really gives it the best flavor.
Make blender pesto with your child(ren) - Have your little one(s) help you add the basil right on into the blender along with your other favorite pesto ingredients before serving them pesto pasta for dinner. Fresh pesto is so aromic and can really help to desensitize a childs nose to the flavors of the dish.
Do an herb guessing challenge at the grocery store - The next time youre grocery shopping with your little one(s), hand them a few herbs and ask them if they can identify which ones are which, just by smelling and looking.
Make mint and honey tea for a tea party - Just add a few leaves of fresh mint and some honey to some warm water and enjoy some mint tea with your little one(s). (FYI - honey shouldn't be given to children under the age of 1)
Sprinkle fresh rosemary onto roasted chicken- One of our family favorite dishes is Rosemary Roasted Chicken. Just add rosemary, salt, pepper, and olive oil and bake in the oven at 400 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour.
