I was amazed the first time I made all-natural banana ice cream with my GreenStar juicer! Let me explain.
The GreenStar juicer is a heavy-duty twin gear triturating juicer. What that means is that it has two interlocking gears that grind up fruits and vegetables and extract the juice. Over top of the gears you place a screen attachment to let the juice pass through the unit while the pulp gets strained and ejected. However, when you buy a GreenStar juicer, it also comes with a “blank” attachment to use in place of the screen. You use the blank attachment for making things like peanut butter, sorbet, baby food and pate.
Champion juicers have a similar arrangement, the only difference being that instead of twin gears, the Champion juicer has a single auger-style masticating gear.
I was eager to try making banana ice cream. I was told by a friend that the best way is to take some ripe bananas, take them completely out of the peel, place them in a freezer bag and then freeze them for at least 24 hours. They need to be frozen solid in order to make the best consistency coming out of the GreenStar.
So, I froze my bananas as described above. After they were frozen for a day, I took them out and fed them into my GreenStar juicer with the ‘blank” attachment in place. I was amazed and delighted because what came out had the appearance and consistency of soft-serve ice cream! Plus, it tasted fantastic and had absolutely no dairy products, no fat and no added sugar. I found that the ice cream tastes very sweet.
I also learned a recipe for natural chocolate syrup (called ‘black tar”) that uses no chocolate, yet has the look, taste and consistency of Hershey’s Chocolate Syrup. I played a trick on my kids and filled up an empty Hershey’s bottle with the natural syrup and they were completely fooled – they never suspected and commented how good it tasted. It is all-natural and easy to make. Here’s how:
- 3 cups natural maple syrup (get the real stuff, not the imitation maple syrup)
- 2/3 cup olive oil
- 2 tablespoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup natural carob powder (can be found at most nutrition stores like Whole Foods or EarthFare)
Mix the ingredients in a blender. Pour into a jar or other suitable container and refrigerate. Keep it in the refrigerator because it will spoil if left out. When you make the banana ice cream, you can pour some of the “black tar” syrup over top and it is truly scrumptious!