In the spotlight: Your little chefs

If your children are reluctant to taste products they do not know, this is the time to get them involved! A little organisation in the kitchen, some common sense rules, recipes tailored to your child, and soon they will lay out all the dishes they helped prepare.

They can participate at any age

Do not go too fast and be patient! Children up to six years old can help most with the bases: stirring, whisking, mashing fruit and vegetables with a fork, and measuring out with a plastic cup. It is only between 7 and 10 years old that children can use a knife with a rounded tip, beat ingredients with a whisk, grate cheese, knead dough or break eggs without an accident! After 10 years old, you can suggest that they think up the meal and let them follow a simple recipe. Always under your supervision when cooking is involved!

Organisation advice

Plan a wide enough time slot by doubling the recipe preparation time and adding at least another hour. To be even better organised, prepare the ingredients in advance to be sure that you have them all on hand and be able to watch what is going on in the kitchen. Print out or copy out the recipe to avoid dirtying your cookbook or computer. To capture the attention of your children, start by making them taste the ingredients before they are mixed together. For example, take two pieces of Entremont Emmental cheese, grate one and give the other one to them to taste. This will help them understand that in cookery it is easy to change what food looks like!

Are your children budding artists? Then suggest that they decorate the dish. Hard pressed cheese is perfect to create cut out characters or brochettes.

Special grated cheese tip

Grated cheese has many advantages including being used by mums to get their children to eat everything! Cheese is an essential source of calcium and children love sprinkling Entremont's grated Emmental, Comté, and Gruyère France over their vegetables and thereby discovering new gourmet flavours.