Whether you need a break from ice cream or are just looking for new, healthier ways to get a sweet fix, a dessert maker could be just the thing for you! Since I have been unable to eat dairy for about the past year due to my baby’s aversion, I was really drawn to the Yonanas Maker because I have sure been missing my ice cream! I tried out the machine and have included my honest Yonanas review below.
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Table of Contents
What is a Yonanas & Why You Need One?
The machine is called Yonanas. It is a product that is sold by Dole (the huge produce company that also sells bananas), and is advertised as a way to use bananas (as a base) and other frozen fruit to create healthy ice cream, also known as “nice cream.” However, the mixtures that you include are up to you, so you could make the frozen treat without the use of bananas at all, and could even include chocolate or other indulgent treats in the mix, if you would like.
Different Types of Yonanas Makers
There are two types of Yonanas makers: the Classic and the Deluxe. I bought the Classic to try because it is less than half the price of the Elite and I am only making frozen treats for a two-person household. The Elite is advertised as being quieter and able to accommodate bigger parties.
Benefits of Using a Yonanas Maker
The advertised benefits of using a Yonanas maker include:
- Dairy free
- Guilt free
- No waste
The idea is that you can freeze all of your uneaten fruit before it goes bad and use it to make a healthy dessert later. In the recipe book that comes with the machine, it also says that you can put room temperature nut butter into the mix (I never tried this personally).
How to Use a Yonanas Maker
The Yonanas Maker is really easy to use. It comes with a base (containing the motor and electrical cord) and five pieces that make up the machine.
- Plunger
- Chute & Blade Cover
- Blade Cone
- Gasket
- Bottom Cap
Pieces 2-5 fit together to create the mounting piece, as seen below. The gasket fits into the bottom cap and is there to prevent any leaking. The blade cone fits on top of the gasket and is the most important part of the machine, as it is the piece that processes the foods to create the dessert. The chute and blade cover then fits on top of the three pieces combined and that is what screws on to the base. The plunger piece is used to push the slightly thawed frozen fruit down into the machine to create the end product.
How to Prepare the Fruit to Use in the Yonanas Maker
The idea is to start with frozen fruit. You can either freeze fresh fruit yourself or buy the bags of frozen fruit from the store. However, for the bananas, you should ripen them at home and then cut them up and freeze them once they have reached the desired ripeness. Yonanas advertises this as once the bananas have brown spots on them, but you should do this at whatever ripeness stage in which you prefer to eat the bananas (e.g., if you prefer greener bananas, freeze them when they are at that ripeness stage).
Once you are ready to use the Yonanas Machine, you need to take your frozen fruit out of the freezer and let it defrost a bit. The Yonanas instructions say to let it defrost for 7-10 minutes, but after you experiment with different thawing times, you can figure out the desired thaw time for you.
Yonanas Recipes
There is a recipe book that comes with the Yonanas Maker. It is pretty basic and has a bunch of different recipes that all include bananas. There are also a few published books you can buy that include Yonanas recipes, including the following two (the one on the right even contains recipes made with non-dessert items).
Or, you can always just be creative and come up with your own fruit mixtures. If you like the end product, after some experimentation, you will find the tastes and textures you enjoy and then can start playing around with those.
Does Yonanas Work Without Bananas?
Yes! I actually think it works better when not using bananas because of the resulting consistency of the fruit. However, it is important to remember that the final product is resulting from what we mix in. So, for example, my favorite mixture has been frozen pineapple and frozen mango and that has been relatively smooth, since there are no seeds to deal with.
How to Clean the Yonanas Maker
Cleaning the Yonanas Maker is almost as easy as putting it together. You just need to remove the mounting piece and unscrew the pieces, just like you screwed them together. One thing I noticed is that the head gets really cold, to the point where there is condensation on the outside of it, so you need to be a little careful when disassembling it. There is only one piece that has blades on it but there isn’t a need for a brush to clean it. All of the surfaces are smooth and easy to clean.
My Experience Using the Yonanas
I think this is a good option to try and help get kids, or even adults, to eat more fruit and to have a substitute for other unhealthy desserts. For me, I love eating fresh fruits and am not a big fan of sorbet or fruit smoothies, so for me this was not as good as it would probably be for someone who enjoys fruit smoothies and sorbet. I do, however, like the idea of using this to blend frozen fruit to put on top of ice cream!
Based on my husband’s and my experience using and tasting the Yonanas, here are the pros and cons that we came up with:
Pros
- Easy to assemble/disassemble – You can assemble and disassemble everything easily in less than one minute.
- Easy to wash – No brush is needed.
- Easy to use – There is just one power switch and you use the plunger to help push the frozen fruit down into the blade.
- Healthier options – This machine does provide and encourage people to eat healthier.
- More options than just frozen fruit – You can also add nut butters and chocolate into the frozen fruit mix.
- You get to decide what the mixture is – You can determine which food items you want included and if using fruit, like bananas, that ripen over time, you can freeze them at the desired ripeness stage to use in a Yonanas dish at a later time.
- Small amount of storage space – Compared to other kitchen gadgets, the Yonanas is relatively small. It takes up a lot less space than a food processor, and is more along the lines of the size of the NutriBullet.
Cons
- Lack of consistency – Our fruit mixtures did not come out a consistent size, texture or flow (not like soft serve). There are still random chunks of frozen fruit at the end, and you have to put in quite a bit of frozen fruit to get the machine to mix the product.
- Some frozen fruit gets stuck in the blade – After mixing the fruit and seemingly getting it all out, there is still a lot of product left on the blade during the disassembly.
- Semi-cheaply made – For costing approximately $40 at the time of this posting, the quality of the machine does not warrant that high of a price to me.
- Can only be used for one purpose – To make a fruit sorbet/ice cream substitute. A product, such as the Nutribullet, could feasibly make a similar treat plus much more.
Conclusion
My overall rating for the Yonanas Maker would be a 3.5 out of 5. I like that it offers a healthy alternative and is super easy to use and clean, but minus two stars for the poor quality and unprocessed fruit left in the blade. If you purchase this machine, I would highly recommend trying recipes without using bananas as well because it makes a huge difference. I even increased my rating by 0.5 stars after trying recipes without bananas!
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Thank you so much for your review. You helped me decide whether to order one, and which one to order.
Fantastic, I’m so glad!
Was really skeptical about all these fruit-based ‘ice cream’ makers and needed a review that would help me decide if I should get one….and you really helped me make up my mind. Tks for so much detail and specifics on both sides of the argument…really appreciate it.
Mine won’t grind anything not even a banana what am I doing wrong?
Is the fruit too frozen? If that’s the case, let it sit out for ~10 minutes beforehand.
Husband gave me one for Christmas…I already have a Vitamix…still deciding whether it’s worth giving up the cupboard space to avoid hurting his feelings. Then again it’s so easy HE could use it, which would keep my Vitamix safe from his machinations…decisions, decisions.
Did you decide to keep it? If so, does it get used?
Can you make ahead of time and keep in the freezer? I have a party to attend and want to take Mango Raspberry Sorbet, but I’m afraid it might refreeze too hard — anybody have experience?
I haven’t used my machine at all yet…