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 make mint chocolate chip or kiwi sorbet.
This is so cool, and would be great for my husband who loves ice cream and needs to eat healthier. http://yonanas.com/yonanas_recipes/chai-spice-yonanas/ would be our choice to make ice cream since we love chai
strawberry pineapple sorbet
I would like to make mint chocolate chip first
I want to try the Cranberry Orange Pie with Graham Cracker Crust.
I would make the Tropical Tease Yonanas first – yum!! And I already have all the ingredients in my freezer ready to go!
Mint Chocolate Chip Yonanas sounds delicious and perfect for St.Patrick’s Day!
Plain old strawberry n banana π
I would make Mango Raspberry Sorbet YUMMY !!!!
blueberry sorbet and then anything raspberries
I would love to make the Kiwi Sorbet first!!
I’d make a mint & chocolate chip yononas
The blueberry sorbet looks awesome! Thanks for the giveaway!
I would try Cherry Chocolate Yonanas
I would make the chocolate yonana’s!
Mango is in season, with banana and whatever else I can get soon
I really want to try this. I love icecream but this is so much healthier. I would like to try the strawberry and banana sorbet
I would love to try vegetables with this since I love juicing it would probably taste great frozen. I would make carrot, cucumber, and apples
It would have to be chocolate or my children would be very upset with me π
bananas
I need to try the mint chocolate chip yonana recipe yummy love this mix
The first recipe I would try would be Bean Brownies with Banana Yonanas
Pistachio!!
Would love to make strawberry Banana frozen yogurts!
I’d make the double chocolate mint surprise from the friends and fans section.
mmm strawberry banana
I would try some strawberry and banana π
I would LOVE to make the Apple Maple Walnut Yonanas recipe!
I cannot decide between the Cherry chocolate yonanas or the key lime yonanas, I’m sure I would try them all. Right now I use my blender ever morning and make banana and fruit of the day smoothies for my kids and I. I am dying to get one.
I’d make Irish Coffee
I would make the chocolate hazelnut followed by strawberry banana flavour. Yum.
Cookie Dough Yonanas….YUM!!!
I would definitely try banana pineapple, or strawberry-banana-pineapple! I’m always looking to get some vitamin C & D in my diet. Just like you, I have a lot of dietary restrictions; I have Crohn’s & severe egg and poultry allergies, so I have to get creative in my diet π
I’m on a huge pineapple kick lately.
i would definitely make the mint chocolate chip
yum strawberries and bananas
I would make mint chocolate chip yonanas.
blackberries sorbet
Sounds really neat!!! I have never heard of this product until I stumbled upon your blog. I would experiment with all sorts of fruits. I think it’s cool!
I would make Mint Chocolate Chip Yonanas
Can’t wait to win one of these. Haven’t had ice cream for soooo long.
I would make this one first Chocolate Hazelnut Yonanas
If I win, the first recipe will be Mint Chocolate Chip Yonanas, it looks and sounds very yummy. Thank you:)
Blackberry Vanilla Bean
Apple Maple Walnut Yonanas
Wow, this looks like an awesome piece of equipment to have, I love making smoothies!!
I need to eat healthier since I’m a diabetic. I would make ice cream with bananas and strawberries and smoothies. I can control what I put in. Seen this machine on QVC and ever since wanted one.
I would make Chocolate Caramel Yonanas
I am gluten intolerant so this would be great! I would make Kiwi Sorbet.
I would make various flavors so the whole family would enjoy it.
I would make chocolate chip mint ice cream!