Frozen dessert season is well upon us, and this year’s gourmet grocer shelves are stocked with a fun, new product: Fronana. It looks like your basic pint of ice cream, except it’s emblazoned with every possible eating-police icon: Vegan Friendly, Paleo Friendly, Diabetic Friendly, Dairy Free, Soy Free and Gluten Free.
That’s because Fronana is basically bananas in a pint container, and bananas are typically kosher in just about every diet plan (Speaking of: where are the Kosher/Halal stickers?). Oh, there are enhancements in those containers too: the Rich Dark Chocolate version of Fronana was nabbed for the taste tests, it sports the addition of premium cocoa and fancy vanilla extract.
The resulting blend isn’t exactly like ice cream. It’s not nearly as creamy, for example, it’s a little icier and more dense. You’d expect as much from a something that lacks cream and an airy whipping process. Fronana is, however, perfectly homogenous, mixing a fresh, natural banana sweetness with an intense chocolate flavor. Even without added sugar, the mix is certainly sweet enough to hold its own as a dessert and it hits the spot as a frozen treat.
In terms of dietary data, it’s unsurprisingly about as impactful as eating a banana. So, it offers 90 calories a serving, but if you eat the whole pint (which could happen) you’d consume 360 calories: that’s about four bananas. Bananas have lots of potassium, an electrolyte, and the electrolyte bit gets a smaller mention on the label, along with a note that it’s free of major allergens.
Given its commitment to bananas. you might expect Fronana to hail from some tropical place that grows bananas: nope. Its origin is in Dayton, where it has its very own mobile units and a storefront with fourteen changeable flavors of the banana-stuff it refers to as “nice cream”. The flavors range from expresso to a seasonal options such as pumpkin pie. In the local pint aisles, you can find it in mango-pineapple and chocolate-chip (or “chocolate chimp”) flavors too.
For more information, visit www.fronanaforlife.com.