Food allergies suck. Hubs has a gluten intolerance, and both he and my youngest are sensitive to dairy. It sucks. Thankfully, neither of them have any life-threatening allergies, but it does mean they get deprived of a lot of yummy stuff, particularly at special events like birthdays and family get-togethers. Hubs gets really congested and Kay gets a bright red rash on her cheeks and chin whenever they eat any amount of dairy. I’ve asked for an appointment with an allergist to get Kay thoroughly checked out, but in the meantime we avoid giving her any milk or milk products.
Even for the rest of us, ice cream is a very rare item in our household. Partly because of allergies (it’s not nice to eat ice cream in front of people who can’t have any) and partly because of all the sugar, preservatives, emulsifiers, and artificial flavourings in commercial ice cream.
Last year I read about a machine that makes soft serve “ice cream” from frozen bananas. Just bananas. No dairy, no added sugar, no emulsifiers. Honestly it sounded too good to be true. When Yonanas gave me the opportunity to test out one of their machines, I jumped at the chance. On behalf of my poor deprived family, thank you!
How Does Yonanas Work?
It’s actually very simple. Peel and freeze overripe bananas (catch them when the skin is “cheetah-spotted”) for at least 24 hours so they’re solidly frozen all the way through. When you’re ready to make dessert, take the bananas and any other frozen fruit you might be using out of the freezer and let them thaw at room temperature for about 10-15 minutes. Then alternate pushing the bananas and the fruit through the machine, always starting and ending with banana. You can also use (unfrozen) nut butter, chocolate, or nuts in the mix.
Each Yonanas machine comes with a recipe book full of ideas like cookies & cream and coffee chocolate chip. Or if you don’t feel like bananas, try making strawberry pineapple sorbet. It’s the bananas that give it the creaminess though, so the no banana recipes are more like a sorbet. For the grown-ups, how about some pear, raspberry, and chardonnay yonanas? The Yonanas website has even more recipes, both banana-based and non. Half the fun comes from experimenting with different flavours and mixes!
For our very first yonanas experience, I used two bananas, 3/4 of a cup of frozen blueberries, strawberries, and cherries, and half a teaspoon of cinnamon. I sprinkled the cinnamon on the bananas and berries, cut the bananas in half, and alternated banana, berries, banana, berries, banana, berries, banana.
How Does It Compare?
It’s really good! Now I don’t hate bananas, but they’re not my favourite fruit either. If you absolutely can’t stand the taste of bananas, then you may want to stick to the no banana yonanas recipes. Having said that, while I noticed the banana taste for the first few bites, I found that the more I ate, the less I noticed it. I would describe the texture and mouth feel of yonanas as closer to frozen yogurt than soft serve ice cream. Obviously, the banana taste will be more or less noticeable depending on what you add to the bananas.
So what did the rest of the family think? Hubs said, “It tastes like a cheat without being one,” and Tee literally licked the bowl clean. Kay said, “Yum!” and she didn’t get any rash! Yonanas has four new fans over here.
Bananas are high in potassium, manganese, vitamin C, vitamin B-6, and fiber. While they are fairly high in sugar for fruit, bananas have a lot less sugar than you’d find in ice cream. That makes this a paleo-friendly treat I’m happy to serve my family, and nobody has to miss out.
Connect
Connect with Yonanas on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, or YouTube. Find tips for healthy eating, new recipes, and news about promotions and contests.
Shop
The Yonanas maker I reviewed retails for $49.99. You can purchase directly from Yonanas or through Amazon.ca or Amazon.com.
Disclosure: I received a sample item for review. All opinions expressed are completely honest and my own, based on my personal experience. Your experience may differ. This post contains affiliate links. This West Coast Mommy is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.
I would love to make the Strawberry Shortcake Yonanas. It sounds delicious.
I would love to make the Irish Coffee recipe if I had this or won this.
This would be a very healthy treat! Would love to have one of these.
Oh I forgot – I would try the Mint Chocolate Chip Yonanas recipe since that is my favorite.
I would try the Apple Maple Walnut Yonanas, it looks delicious!
i would make Kiwi Sorbet
Wow. I love this machine. What a healthier way to have a treat. I would make every single recipe just so I could try them all. I would start with the Cherry Chocolate Yonanas. Yum Yum and more yums. π
Would combine frozen greek yogurt with protein powder and blueberries with smaller amounts of frozen banana.
I would try Mint Chocolate Chip Yonanas
So many I would like to try but my 1st would b Strawberry Shortcake Yonanas!
I’d love to make the caramel apple yonanas
I’d like to try the Kiwi Sorbet recipe.
everything looks delish, first thing i would do is Mint Chocolate Chip Yonanas – yay!
I’d make Blueberry Sorbet
Probably Mango frozen yogurt because it’s my favorite!
I would just love to try out the apple maple walnut yonanas recipe! It looks so yummy!
This looks awesome, I’d love to try the Irish Coffee!
I would try the Cherry Chocolate Yonanas recipe first! Thanks
I would have to say Mint Chocolate Chip for my hubby!
The very first recipe I would have to make is the Irish Coffee! Yumm!
Oooh, I’d definitely try the Cherry Chocolate recipe. Yum!
Yum!! We would try the kiwi sorbert!
I would definitely make the Strawberry Shortcake Yonana recipe.
Berry Chocolate Coconut Yonanas would e the first thing i would make,thanks for the chance to win ! Cheers
banana +blueberry would be my first!
I would make the Mint Chocolate Chip!
the cherry chocolate recipe sounds amazing!
I’d love to make and try the Mint Chocolate Chip Yonanas.
Yum…I’d like to make the Affogato!
I have been craving something with apple so I would choose the Apple Maple Walnut Yonanas
I was looking at this machine at Canadian Tire the other day and thought I’d love to have one. Your review makes me want to have one even more π
Mint Chocolate Chip Yonanas looks yummy, but so does everything else!!!
I would definitely try the Blackberry Vanilla Bean. It sounds really good and I love blackberries. Thanks.
I would make the Cookie Dough Yonanas
MMmmmm, I’d love to try the chocolate raspberry yonanas recipe !
I want to try straight up bananas
I would really like to try this product. The first recipe I’d make would be Mango/Raspberry! http://yonanas.com/yonanas_recipes/mango-raspberry-sorbet-2/
Besos, Sarah
Blogger at Journeys of The Zoo
strawberry or raspberry
This would be a great to make healthy treats for our toddler with choking issues! He’s strictly on pureed food, and this would make it extra yummy, healthy and fun!! π
the peach blueberry sorbet. so glad you did this review. my son can’t have milk and I’ve been debating getting a yonanas but I don’t like bananas. so I wasn’t sure it was worth it just for him. now that I know I can make it with just other fruits I might go buy one this summer
Those sound so good! I would love to try mint chip or blueberry sorbet or kiwi sorbot- yum!
I’d probably try Chai Spice Yonanas. I love Indian food!
The first recipe I would try is Irish Coffee. Yum!!
I would try the cherry-chocolate recipe first π
I think I would really like to try the coffee chocolate chip. I love bananas so I think I would really like this machine
I think this is great. You can take fruits and make something really good for you that’s like ice cream.
I would make the cherry chocolate! Can’t go wrong with cherries and chocolate
I would try the Kiwi Sorbet Yum
that was easy, Mint Chocolate Chip Yonanas
I would make the Irish Coffee. 2 frozen over-ripe bananas, 1 oz. coffee-infused dark chocolate bar, 1 shot of coffee liqueur….yummmmmmm!