When Jian started getting her teeth we wanted to give her snacks that didn’t have sugar and a lot of sodium. When you look at the ingredients and info on even baby snacks they have a lot of sugar and salt. Jian has a lifetime to get her parents’ sugar and salt addictions. We wanted her to learn to appreciate the real taste of natural food before then.
EJ found a source to get rice snacks naturally flavored with spinach, sweet potatoes, and Korean pear. She cottoned on to them right away. Six months later, and they’re still her favorite snacks.
They come in two forms, pellets and sticks. The pellets look like Rice Krispies, but they are soft, not crispy. Whenever she’s sitting down, it’s a good way to keep Jian occupied practicing her fine motor skills in picking up each pellet.
The sticks are wide and fit easily in a toddler’s hand. They’re not completely bland. They have those natural flavorings, and they subtly come out. She really loves these, even to this day where she’s eating more flavored foods, like her beloved cheese.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkLXGPb8JWc
And they’re fun. (This was also Jian’s first ride on a high speed train.)
They’re called 맘스쌀과자 Mom’s Ssal Gwaja (Mom’s Rice Cookies). Our order from six months ago is still lasting.
Have you tried the mandarin orange slices from Jeju that Trader Joe’s is carrying? My daughter is quite a bit older than Jian but she loves them. Nothing in them but oranges and they don’t leave that weird dust like some of their other freeze-dried fruits.
I’ve never seen the freeze-dried Jeju ones. From December to February we are deluged with Jeju mandarin oranges, though. She likes the flavor, but she still doesn’t have enough teeth to finish the job, so she chews them and spits them out.
Jian is so very sweet! I second your search for low-sugar, low-sodium kiddy snacks – well done on your successful search.
Can you tell me where I can order these from? Do they ship to the US? I can’t read there website. Thank you
Jenny
Jendg33@gmail.com