Yonanas 988BK Ice Cream Machine: Full Review

Yonanas has become a popular brand for making creamy soft-serve style desserts at home. The company specializes in frozen dessert makers that use frozen fruit to create healthy treats. Frozen fruit is blended and churned to produce a soft, ice cream-like texture. Yonanas claims their desserts contain 40% less sugar than ice cream and are lactose, gluten and fat free.

The Yonanas 988 is one of their newer models, featuring updated design and functions for making frozen fruit soft serve. This machine allows you to turn frozen bananas and other fruit into ice cream-esque desserts without any dairy or added sugar. It provides a healthier way to satisfy sweet cravings at home.

With frozen dessert makers like the Yonanas 988, you can create flavorful, creamy treats using just fruit. This review will look at the key features, performance and ease of use of the Yonanas 988 frozen dessert maker model.

Overview

The Yonanas Deluxe Frozen Treat Maker model 988BK is an electric countertop kitchen appliance designed to turn frozen fruit into soft-serve ice cream-like desserts. This compact machine measures approximately 8 x 6 x 10 inches and weighs just under 5 pounds, making it easy to store in most kitchens.

The Yonanas uses a special chute and auger system to blend and churn frozen bananas and other fruits into a creamy, soft-serve consistency. It can make servings for 1-2 people at a time, with each batch taking just seconds to create. This gives it an advantage over traditional ice cream makers that require pre-freezing bowls and longer churning times.

Another excellent option for making frozen desserts is the GreenLife CC005074-001, which features a non-stick ceramic coating and a powerful motor for easy blending. This model is also eco-friendly, ensuring that your treats are not only delicious but made with a greener approach. It’s perfect for those who enjoy creating healthy frozen desserts without the hassle of traditional methods.

Design

The Yonanas 988BK has an attractive and compact design that looks great on any countertop. The machine has a modern, sleek appearance with a black plastic exterior and chrome accents.

Despite its small footprint measuring only 7.5 x 5 x 10.5 inches, the Yonanas feels sturdy and durable. The materials used in construction are BPA-free plastic and stainless steel. Controls are kept simple with an on/off switch and an eject button for the chute.

Aesthetically, this frozen treat maker has a clean, minimalist look. The all-black color scheme gives it a sophisticated edge. The chrome accents on the eject button and around the base provide nice finishing touches. Overall, the Yonanas 988BK combines form and function with its visually appealing yet practical design.

In addition to the Yonanas, the Cuisinart ICE-21PKP1 is another excellent option for dessert enthusiasts. This ice cream maker features a unique paddle design for enhanced mixing and efficient freezing. Its compact size and elegant pink hue make it a stylish addition to any kitchen. With the ICE-21PKP1, users can whip up delicious homemade ice cream, sorbet, and frozen yogurt in as little as 20 minutes. The easy-to-use operation ensures that even beginners can enjoy crafting their favorite frozen treats.

Functionality

The Yonanas 988BK works by processing frozen fruit through a chute and "extruding" it into a soft-serve consistency using a stainless steel blade. Simply load your favorite frozen fruits or veggies into the chute and push down. As the food moves through the chute, it gets blended and aerated by the spinning blade, turning it into a creamy, frozen dessert texture while preserving the natural flavors. You can use bananas, mangoes, pineapples, berries, kale, avocado, or other fruits/veggies of your choice. The end result is a healthy soft-serve style treat that tastes almost like real ice cream but contains only the natural sugars from the fruits. It's an ingenious way to satisfy sweet cravings in a more nutritious way. The Yonanas transforms frozen produce into a naturally sweet, spoonable frozen dessert without any added sugars, preservatives or artificial ingredients. It provides all the taste and texture of ice cream, using only fruit.

Ease of Use

The Yonanas machine is designed to be incredibly easy and intuitive to use. There is virtually no learning curve, as it only involves inserting frozen fruit into the chute and pushing it through with the plunger. The simplicity makes it ideal for all ages. Kids will enjoy being able to make their own healthy soft-serve treats, while adults will appreciate the no-fuss process.

Within minutes of taking it out of the box, you'll be making creamy fruit soft serve. The machine requires no complicated assembly or setup. Just plug it in, add fruit to the hopper, and push down the plunger. The appliance does all the work to turn the frozen fruit into a delicious soft serve consistency.

Everything about the Yonanas is optimized for user-friendliness. The hopper is transparent so you can see the fruit being transformed. The non-slip feet keep the machine steady while in use. And the plunger smoothly pushes the fruit through the chute with minimal effort. Kids can even operate it with adult supervision. Cleaning is also simple, involving just disassembly of a few removable parts that can go right in the dishwasher.

Overall, ease of use is one of the Yonanas' biggest assets. It delivers homemade frozen desserts that taste like soft serve, but doesn't require any of the usual hassles. You don't have to prepare an ice cream base and freeze it overnight or have bulky equipment cluttering your counters. The machine makes it a breeze to create healthy, delicious treats.

Versatility

The Yonanas 988 has remarkable versatility for an ice cream maker. While many machines are designed specifically for ice cream, frozen yogurt or gelato, the Yonanas can make all of those and more.

With the Yonanas, you're not limited to dairy-based desserts. It can easily process frozen bananas and other fruits to create healthy, tasty treats. Add some peanut butter or chocolate sauce and you can make dairy-free "nice creams" in endless flavor combinations. The simple chute design allows mixing in any toppings you desire.

In addition to fruit-based nice creams, the Yonanas churns up traditional ice creams, sorbets, frozen yogurt, gelato, shaved ice, granitas and slushies with ease. Just freeze your ingredients beforehand and let the Yonanas work its magic. The powerful motor pulverizes frozen contents into a soft, creamy texture within minutes.

You're not constrained to sweet foods either. Savory frozen treats are possible too, like frozen avocado or mango gazpacho. The Yonanas truly provides versatility across both sweet and savory applications.

Performance

The Yonanas 988 Deluxe is powered by a 150-watt motor which provides enough power to churn through frozen bananas and other fruits to create soft-serve consistency desserts. The motor is relatively quiet during operation.

In terms of speed, it can process about 1 banana in around 30 seconds to a minute depending on ripeness. The chute is wide enough to accommodate slicing in fruits like bananas without needing to cut them up into small pieces first. This helps speed up the process.

The machine produces creamy and consistent results every time. The texture is smooth like soft serve ice cream, without any large chunks of unblended fruit. It's able to break down the fruits into a uniform consistency. The results are thicker than simply mashing up fruit, thanks to the vacuum suction design that incorporates air into the mixture.

Cleaning

Keeping the Yonanas machine clean is easy but important. The process is quick and straightforward.

After each use, disassemble the machine. The plunger and hopper/chute are removable and dishwasher safe. Wash them in the dishwasher or hand wash with warm soapy water.

The base contains the motor and electrical components so should never be submerged in water. Instead, wipe it down with a clean damp cloth or paper towel. Pay special attention to the bottom where any drips may have collected.

It's a good idea to give the base a thorough wipe down at least once a week. This prevents any residues from building up over time.

To sanitize the machine, periodically wash the parts in a water/vinegar solution. Let the parts soak for 5-10 minutes. This helps kill any bacteria and prevents odors.

Pro tip: Place a paper towel under the hopper when using the machine. This absorbs extra drips and splatters, keeping the base clean.

Follow these simple cleaning habits after each use and your Yonanas will stay fresh and ready to make more frozen fruit treats!

Accessories

The Yonanas 988 comes with a few handy accessories to help you get the most out of it.

• It includes a storage cone that neatly holds the machine when not in use and catches any melted drips. The storage cone has a no-slip base to keep the machine stable.

• An ice cream stick is included for scooping and shaping your creations right out of the chute. Kids will enjoy using the stick to craft their frozen treats.

• The package also contains a recipe booklet with ideas for yogurt, fruit, and chocolate flavors. This gives you a handy starting point before experimenting with your own ingredient combinations.

• Additional accessories like extra cones, sticks, nozzles, containers, and recipe books can be purchased separately to expand the capabilities of the machine. Special nozzles allow you to make frozen yogurt soft serve, gelato, or add swirls.

• Replacement parts like blades, cones, and lids are also available if needed down the road. So you can keep the machine going strong for years of frozen fun.

Pros & Cons

The Yonanas 988 Deluxe has many attractive features but also some downsides to consider:

Pros

• Makes soft serve consistency desserts out of frozen fruit
• Allows you to create healthier alternatives to ice cream
• Simple to use with just one button
• Easy to clean and assemble
• Comes with recipe book for inspiration
• Compact size good for small kitchens
• Quiet motor operation
• BPA free construction

Cons

• Has to be hand washed
• Feed chute is small requiring fruit to be cut
• Occasional jamming issues with certain fruits
• Limited capabilities beyond fruit desserts
• Not as powerful as a premium ice cream maker
• Frozen fruit can become expensive compared to ice cream ingredients

Overall the Yonanas performs well if you're looking for a simple way to make fruit-based soft serve and sorbet alternatives to dairy ice cream. For the price it offers decent versatility and ease of use. Just be ready to get creative with recipes and deal with some minor hassles around prep and cleaning.