Enhancing a purée diet with fortification, flavour and appearance
To ensure all our residents receive a range of well-balanced and tasty meals, our Head of Catering Services, Adrian Silaghi, constantly strives for new ways to fortify the puréed foods we serve our residents. Adrian and our team of Chefs pay special attention to making sure the meals retain their visual appeal and tempting flavours in a variety of ways:
High calorie ingredients: Instead of using water to dilute our blended food, we use high calorie, flavoursome ingredients such as full fat milk or cream, milk fortified with milk powder, melted butter, oil, sugars, honey, syrup, juice, gravy and other sauces.
Strong flavours: Foods with distinct flavours often encourage our residents to enjoy their food more. We enhance certain foods with extra flavours such as cinnamon in porridge, parmesan and stilton rather than cheddar, mild curry, chilli and sweet and sour sauce. We also use herbs including thyme, sage, tarragon, oregano, basil, garlic.
Natural colouring: To enhance the appearance of puréed food, we often brighten its colour using foods such as carrots, spinach, beetroot, tomato purée, blackcurrants or blackberries.
Cooking methods: We always cook our foods using the best possible method to bring out the optimum flavour and texture in everything we serve to our residents. For example, poaching and simmering will soften ingredients, but browning and roasting will develop better flavour.
Contact Adrian.Silaghi@Nellsar.com for more information.
