Review: Barfoots’ Sweetcorn Bites

I am always looking for ways to try and get more vegetables into my carb-crazed baby’s diet, so I was excited to be asked to review Barfoots’ new Sweetcorn Bites. It is a pretty simple idea really, they are literally just small-hand-sized pieces of corn on the cob, prepared, cut up and ready to cook. The packet gives you several options for how to cook the sweetcorn, but frankly I saw the “microwave in the bag with a bit of water for 4 minutes” option and went for it. If you were inclined you could also boil or steam them. Before becoming a mommy I tended not to buy pre-prepared vegetables much, scornfully thinking “come on, how hard can it be to lice/dice/peel that?”. Since have a baby I know how it is to get to 5 o’clock and realize you don’t have any veg in the fridge and if your little darling is to eat vegetables its going to be frozen peas again. We all try to make sure our babies have a healthy diet as much as possible, and frankly if buying some pre-prepared fruit and veg every so often means my baby doesn’t live on breadsticks and fromage frais then its not to be sniffed at. According to the website, Sweetcorn Bites are “completely natural and with nothing artificial added, they’re a brilliant source of nutrition, containing carotenoids, vitamins A, B3 and C, plus Folic Acid, fibre, carbohydrates, sugars and protein for energy.” Sounds like something we should all be eating more of, eh?Since we already knew we liked corn on the cob, it wasn’t much of surprise that my husband and I thought they were delicious, and made a nice change to our usual broccoli or greens. But I was really impressed at how much my 11 month old (pictured) went for the sweetcorn bites: Like all babies, almost any food can be hit or miss depending on their whim of the day, and I had given him tinned sweetcorn before but never corn on the cob so it was a leap into the unknown. However, he really seemed to love them on the several occasions I gave him them. I think the reasons for their appeal were that the naturally sweet taste of sweetcorn (like peas, butternut squash etc) is very palatable for little ones, the bright yellow color is attractive and they are a really good size for a little hand to hold so that even a young child can eat it themself without needing help. It seemed like he enjoyed gnawing on the little cobs and ate loads, which I was really pleased with. One day he even insisted on taking a half eaten piece of sweetcorn up with him at bath time, and then throwing it into the bath...As I say, in an ideal world we would be eating home grown organic veg all the time, but on the days when that isn’t possible (and I have quite a few of those...), I would definitely recommend Sweetcorn Bites. They were very quick and easy to cook, convenient and reassuringly natural and wholesome - just fresh vegetables. At £2.49 a pack I would think twice about buying them all the time but for a quick and easy way to get more veg into your family’s diet they are great and I can vouch for their baby appeal!Website: http://sweetcornbites.com/Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/sweetcornbitesAvailable from: Ocado and selected stores at Tesco, Waitrose and Co-op.Retail price: £2.49 for a 300g bag (average 8 bites per bag), but Ocado currently have them on special offer, £3 for 2 bags until 10/4/2012, or whilst stocks last.