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.
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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 first try the cherry chocolate yonanas recipes. I have been wanting one of these so bad!
So many of them look wonderful, but I would go for Mango Sorbet first
I think I would try the Apple Pie Yonanas recipe. It sounds so yummy. I like the idea ofmaking my own frozen desserts. Thanks for your review!
I would make the Mint Chocolate Chip Yonanas
I would try to make the Irish Coffee. The picture looks so yummy. My son wont eat dairy. He would love this machine!!
Yum! I am so amazed by all the creative recipes…the irish coffee looks like a great way to celebrate st patrick’s day, and I’d also love to try the pb&j bon bons.
Oh, I’d love Kiwi Sorbet!
I am going to let my friend know about this because she just found out she has a LOT of food allergies – but they are bad 🙁 Like life-threatening if she eats nuts or certain items. I think this machine could be a great help to her – she is currently in the process of eating something and waiting to see if she has a reaction … then again and again 🙁 Not fun for her. Thanks for the great review!
I think I would try the chocolate coconut first. I have been wanting one of these!
I would make the Blueberry Pomegranate Yonanas first it sounds soo good
I think I need to try the Summer Melon Yonanas. Or anything else from the Banana Yonanas category. Yum!
Mmmmm Mint Chocolate Chip would be my pick!
I’d love to make the Blueberry Sorbet
Watermelon Blueberry Sorbet I think, but there are so many yummy recipes I would LOVE to try 🙂
I would make Watermelon Blueberry Sorbet first. Sounds so yummy!
I would try Mint Chocolate Chip Yonanas first, it’s my favorite!
I’m a mint chocolate chip lover, so that would have to be first up, although so many look amazing!
Watermelon Blueberry Sorbet sounds delicious, so I would make that the first one.
I’d love to make strawberry blueberry sorbet first
The first recipe I’d like to try is the Strawberry Pineapple Sorbet
I would make the strawberry blueberry sorbet first!!! Thanks.
I have to say this gadget looks amazing. I’ve never even heard of this before. This would be really cool to have and I would be excited to try the Mint Chocolate Chip Yonanas recipe first.
Mint Chocolate Chip Yonanas is the first recipe I’d try
I’d make the chocolate hazelnut Yonanas.
Holy Cow. I would make one of these everyday. I would start with maybe the Blueberry Sorbet, OMG How easy is it to make? Just thaw and insert LOL. No brainer. I would be eating fruits all day like this in summer. IN SUUUUMER!
chocolate hazelnut Yonanas
I have made banana ice cream before, and I like it with just the plain bananas! 🙂
I would love to try the Min Chocolate Chip Yonnanas recipe. MMMMH!
This little machine looks so simple and easy to use. I would love to make the apple maple walnut. Like you, we have lots of food sensitivities in our family.
The cherry chocolate dish looks so scrumptious!
I would love to make the kiwi sorbet! Yum!
I would love to try the Irish Coffee recipe! What a great idea!
i would really like to try the Tropical Sorbet
http://yonanas.com/yonanas_recipes/pear-raspberry-chardonnay-crisp/
YUMMY!!!!
I would love one of those. My kids like there frozen yogurt. I would try out Mint Chocolate Chip Yonanas
WOW! This is great! My son has a sensitivity to milk so it is bad for him to have too much ice cream so the fact that this is fruit is great! I love it!
I would love to try making the Blueberry Sorbet!
I would make Irish Coffee for St. Patrick’s Day! Yum!
my sister in law has one and LOVES it so i’d love to try out a simple banana/pineapple recipe!
I would like to try this with banana, strawberries and a few blueberries. I bet these are good.
Chocolate Coconut sounds delicious.
I would try out the Irish Coffee!
I would try the Mint Chocolate Chip first…YUMMY, but then I’d be trying everything else too…lol
I would make Pear Raspberry Chardonnay Crisp.
I would make the blueberry sorbet, its looks yummy!
Mango sorbet–perhaps with chocolate–would be my favourite.
The Irish Coffee recipe sounds so good!
I think the first recipe i would try would be the Apple Pie Yonanas!
I would be making quite a few but I think I would start with Apple Pie Yonanas and go from there.
I’d make the mixed berry sorbet.