Banana Nice Cream

This past weekend, while down in southern Delaware, I visited the Rehoboth Beach boardwalk. Although it was only the weekend before Memorial Day, the boardwalk and surrounding areas were jam-packed with eager vacationers and fresh-out-of-school young adults and teeny-boppers. Needless to say, my mom and I made some new restaurant discoveries within the 40 minutes we spent perusing the side streets and main roads looking for a parking space. Among our findings, we came across the unassuming Annie’s Banannies. Its slogan, “You’ll never dream it’s not ice cream,” greatly sparked our curiosity, and since we surrendered our attempt at an afternoon stroll along the boardwalk, we agreed to come back after dinner that evening.

After dinner in Lewes, a town only 10 minutes from Rehoboth, we did finally secure a parking space near the boardwalk. As promised, we returned to Annie’s Banannies. What a novelty! Annie’s Banannies serves frozen treats, but these confections are neither ice cream, nor frozen yogurt, nor your typical chocolate-covered frozen banana. Annie’s Banannies re-defines the banana. Freezing bananas at a slightly overripe stage, and then passing them through a juicer (not a citrus juicer) yields the most unique “ice cream-like” treat you will ever taste. As the frozen fruit passes through the juicer, it is transformed into a fluffy cream with the consistency of soft-serve ice cream. It’s pure banana; nothing added, not even sugar for enhanced sweetness. Truly amazing! Why hasn’t anyone marketed this before?

Annie’s Banannies offers many all-natural toppings for your banana “ice cream,” like coconut flakes, all-natural peanut butter, granola, honey, fresh berries, crushed ginger snaps, chocolate syrup, and whipped cream. Being a lover of all-things-ginger, I opted for the ginger snaps, which was a perfect complement to the pure taste of the velvety banana. Annie’s Banannies is not cheap, as prices start at $4.00 per cup (one size only), but this healthy treat is most definitely worth it! It would even make a great, nutritious breakfast with granola and peanut butter on top!

I might even invest in a professional juicer just so I can make my own version of Annie’s Banannies at home in between my visits to Rehoboth.