Trying to coax children into eating their greens is a task that defeats most parents, however determined.
The answer, it appears, may lie in vegetable ice cream and frozen yogurts - the latest "disguise" for unpopular vegetables that would otherwise be left half-eaten on the plate or thrown on the floor.
It sounds unappetising, but when vegetables are mixed with sweeter products such as sultanas, mint and oranges, and presented in a tub or cone as ice cream, children take to them with relish. That is the theory, at least.
The ice creams will be launched soon but are being unveiled next Friday at the Baby Show at the National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham.
Gerrie Hawes, of Fresh Daisy, an organic frozen baby food company which supplies Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury's and independent delicatessens, said: "A lot of parents have problems with vegetables in their children's diets so I created recipes introducing red cabbage, broccoli, carrots, parsnips and peas into a kid's favourite treat - ice cream.
"Asking your child to eat purple or green ice cream may prove easier than asking them to eat cabbage or broccoli. The carrot and orange ice cream is delicious. The purple ice cream is made with red cabbage."
The company, based in Elstree, Herts, is in talks with an organic ice cream manufacturer and is about to publish a book of recipes.
Miss Hawes said friends had told her there was "no chance" their child would eat the ice creams or yogurts, but were "pleasantly surprised". She added: "You can tell when a child has only had jarred baby food. It is intensively cooked, which makes the taste and colour bland, and reduces the texture."
The ice creams and yogurts are aimed at children over a year old because some experts recommend that dairy products are not introduced into a baby's diet until then.
Recent research has pointed to the extraordinary influence that a baby's diet has on its long-term eating habits.
It has been suggested that the reason many children prefer chips and other junk foods to green and healthy fare is because of the food they taste at a young age.
Infants weaned on rusks, conventional baby food, processed foods and milk are more likely to go on to prefer "beige carbohydrate" such as crisps, white bread and chips, according to psychologists.
Dr Gillian Harris, a clinical psychologist at Birmingham University, said that as children grew up, they built a "visual prototype" of the food they were accustomed to eating. But babies exposed to fresh fruit and vegetables at an early age would show a greater preference for those foods later on.
"If you eat brussels sprouts at the age of two, you are likely to be eating them when you are 40," she said.
Fiona McIntosh, 33, from west London, whose 19-month-old son Joe has tried the vegetable ice creams, said: "He loves ice cream so his reaction was positive.
"He loves the pea flavour, and the carrot and orange, and he likes the pear and parsnip yogurt. He's less keen on the red cabbage. It's a great colour for an ice cream, but it's a strong taste."