Children taste bitterness more strongly than adults do, particularly in calcium-rich vegetables like greens – which also contain high levels of bitter-tasting but healthy compounds like phenols and flavonoids.
While repeated exposure to these tastes can overcome children’s evolutionary response to these tastes (“Bitterness equals poison! ”), their taste buds are way behind those of their parents, who are happily heaping on seconds.
One way to make vegetables more palatable is by adding them to the foods kids love, like grilled cheese, and hiding their bitter taste with delicious Simply HEINZ Ketchup.
With just the basics – ripe red tomatoes, vinegar, real sugar, salt, and a blend of spices – it’s an easy way to make the taste of veggies blend into a basic grilled cheese recipe, thereby instantly elevating its nutritional content. Try adding baby spinach, tomato for color, and red onion for crunch.
