Babies' unexpected favourite tastes revealed

Most parents can tell how well their latest concoction of mashed and pureed delights went down with their baby from the amount of unwanted food dribbled down their little one's bib.

But now a new, slightly more scientific, study has discovered that babies' taste buds are really rather refined - and they love the flavour of foods you might not have even considered offering them.

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Using a 'thrill-o-meter', baby and toddler food makers Ella's Kitchen has discovered that the top three flavours that most excited tots' tastes are mango, cinnamon and, somewhat unexpectedly, lemon - showing that perhaps we're not born with a sweet tooth after all.

The rest of the top 10 foods were found to be coconut, banana, papaya, red pepper, apricot, sweet potato and carrot.

The 'thrill-o-meter' works by measuring any increases in the babies' Galvanic Skin Response (which measures tiny changes in skin moisture using a pad on the baby's foot) from certain foods, combined with their facial expressions and body language analysis from their parents.

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Brendan Walker, from the Thrill Laboratory, commented: “Food can be really exciting for babies – whether it’s a first taste of cinnamon, juicy mango or exotic coconut. 

"Different foods can stimulate different physiological responses and this innovative study is designed to reveal just how thrilling different foods are for babies."

The babies involved in the study were aged between nine and 11 months and split equally into girls and boys. They all tasted the food in the same order and presented in the same way.

We'll be whipping up a sweet potato and papaya mush for tea tonight then! What will you be trying? Share your baby's favourite flavours with us on Twitter.