Guest guest Posted May 13, 2012 Report Share Posted May 13, 2012 I finaly figured out the cause of my occasional "bland-bitter" smoothies. Its the banana! i have experimented over the course of a few weeks and it is for sure the banana that is causing this bitter smoothies. And yes, i add sweeteners to my smoothies and this has had no affect on the bitterness. I thought for sure it must be the Kale but now I know for sure it is the bananas. Bananas will never be on my list of ingredients for smoothies again. With the supplements and my diet, im positive excluding bananas wont harm my diet. Im posting this because I am curious if anyone else has had this experience? I make wonderful smoothies and do not always add bananas, but when I do.... yuk.. bitter bitter.. this seems strange to me. Its like the banana "draws out" the bitterness of the other items in my smoothie.... i think i will do a banana exclusive smoothie when I get home today to confirm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 13, 2012 Report Share Posted May 13, 2012 I'm going to experiment more this evening. I freeze my bananas before using them, not that I can see where this would be an issue with taste. My smoothie this morning consisted of kale, spinach, carrot, frozen banana, frozen blueberry, frozen mango. Water to fill along with agave and honey (ran out of agave)! I purposely added more sweetener than normal fearing the potential bitterness. I don't get it. But am going to make another smoothie the same except for the banana and see. These bananas taste fine eaten seperately so I don't know what's going on. I can't see were excludng bananas all together would be that big of a deal anyway. The only reason I use them at all is they are so cheap. Anyway, back to "choking" down my bitter breakfast! Sent from my Samsung Epicâ„¢ 4G Lea Ann Savage <lsavage@...> wrote: Hello ,I assume you are using ripe bananas (brown spots are great). Everyone's taste buds are different. This is an unusual claim (that bananas bring out the bitterness in greens) but I don't doubt for one second that you know YOUR taste buds!!!I've discovered that lemon is the perfect addition to a smoothie when one wants to mask the bitterness of greens. I think that I could eat lawn trimmings as long as they were mixed with lemon ;-)Happy taste-bud-pleasing, Vitamix ingredient research! Blessings,Lea Ann SavageSatellite Beach, FL(321) 773-7088 (home)(321-961-9219 (cell)www.BlenderLady.com(AKA the Vitamix Lady :-)<))>< On May 13, 2012, at 8:51 AM, R wrote: I finaly figured out the cause of my occasional "bland-bitter" smoothies. Its the banana! i have experimented over the course of a few weeks and it is for sure the banana that is causing this bitter smoothies. And yes, i add sweeteners to my smoothies and this has had no affect on the bitterness. I thought for sure it must be the Kale but now I know for sure it is the bananas. Bananas will never be on my list of ingredients for smoothies again. With the supplements and my diet, im positive excluding bananas wont harm my diet. Im posting this because I am curious if anyone else has had this experience? I make wonderful smoothies and do not always add bananas, but when I do.... yuk.. bitter bitter.. this seems strange to me. Its like the banana "draws out" the bitterness of the other items in my smoothie.... i think i will do a banana exclusive smoothie when I get home today to confirm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 13, 2012 Report Share Posted May 13, 2012 The only time I have had bitter smoothies is if I used too much Flax seeds in the mix and when I put in chopped collard greens OH MY was that terrible... After that I have pretty much stuck w just romaine or spinach... Banana's no... I freeze my Banana's all the time. but some banana's, they may be yellow in color but are NOT fully ripe and those will have a slight bitter flavor.. I would get the banana's and let them sit on the counter for a few days and let them get a little SOFT and slightly brown and THEN try them... You may find the difference there. Good LUCK > >  > > I finaly figured out the cause of my occasional " bland-bitter " smoothies. Its the banana! i have experimented over the course of a few weeks and it is for sure the banana that is causing this bitter smoothies. And yes, i add sweeteners to my smoothies and this has had no affect on the bitterness. I thought for sure it must be the Kale but now I know for sure it is the bananas. Bananas will never be on my list of ingredients for smoothies again. With the supplements and my diet, im positive excluding bananas wont harm my diet. Im posting this because I am curious if anyone else has had this experience? I make wonderful smoothies and do not always add bananas, but when I do.... yuk..  bitter bitter.. this seems strange to me. Its like the banana " draws out " the bitterness of the other items in my smoothie....  i think i will do a banana exclusive smoothie when I get home today to confirm. > > > > > > TODAY(Beta) • Powered by > Everyday moms share their sacrifices, joys > Privacy Policy > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 13, 2012 Report Share Posted May 13, 2012 I'm sure this is the problem. Was told that ripe bananas would exhibit an overpowering banana flavor. Freezing the banana would prevent "clouding" the mix (or something like that) so we have always froze the bananas. and was told frozen bananas will mix better with the VM. So I have been freezing half-ripe bananas and using those. Buying green Bananas and cutting and freezing them. I think I was given bogus info. I will take a "cloudy" smoothy over a bitter smoothie any day! Sent from my Samsung Epic™ 4G crenita2 <crenita@...> wrote: The only time I have had bitter smoothies is if I used too much Flax seeds in the mix and when I put in chopped collard greens OH MY was that terrible... After that I have pretty much stuck w just romaine or spinach... Banana's no... I freeze my Banana's all the time. but some banana's, they may be yellow in color but are NOT fully ripe and those will have a slight bitter flavor.. I would get the banana's and let them sit on the counter for a few days and let them get a little SOFT and slightly brown and THEN try them... You may find the difference there. Good LUCK > >  > > I finaly figured out the cause of my occasional "bland-bitter" smoothies. Its the banana! i have experimented over the course of a few weeks and it is for sure the banana that is causing this bitter smoothies. And yes, i add sweeteners to my smoothies and this has had no affect on the bitterness. I thought for sure it must be the Kale but now I know for sure it is the bananas. Bananas will never be on my list of ingredients for smoothies again. With the supplements and my diet, im positive excluding bananas wont harm my diet. Im posting this because I am curious if anyone else has had this experience? I make wonderful smoothies and do not always add bananas, but when I do.... yuk..  bitter bitter.. this seems strange to me. Its like the banana "draws out" the bitterness of the other items in my smoothie....  i think i will do a banana exclusive smoothie when I get home today to confirm. > > > > > > TODAY(Beta) • Powered by > Everyday moms share their sacrifices, joys > Privacy Policy > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 13, 2012 Report Share Posted May 13, 2012 BINGO - you found the problem!" So I have been freezing half-ripe bananas and using those." Blessings,Lea Ann SavageSatellite Beach, FL(321) 773-7088 (home)(321-961-9219 (cell)www.BlenderLady.com(AKA the Vitamix Lady :-)<))>< On May 13, 2012, at 11:27 AM, Ruhnke wrote: I'm sure this is the problem. Was told that ripe bananas would exhibit an overpowering banana flavor. Freezing the banana would prevent "clouding" the mix (or something like that) so we have always froze the bananas. and was told frozen bananas will mix better with the VM. So I have been freezing half-ripe bananas and using those. Buying green Bananas and cutting and freezing them. I think I was given bogus info. I will take a "cloudy" smoothy over a bitter smoothie any day! > > Lea Ann Savage <lsavage@...> wrote: > > Hello , > > > I assume you are using ripe bananas (brown spots are great). Â Everyone's taste buds are different. Â This is an unusual claim (that bananas bring out the bitterness in greens) but I don't doubt for one second that you know YOUR taste buds!!! > > I've discovered that lemon is the perfect addition to a smoothie when one wants to mask the bitterness of greens. Â I think that I could eat lawn trimmings as long as they were mixed with lemon ;-) > > Happy taste-bud-pleasing, Vitamix ingredient research! Â > > Blessings, > Lea Ann Savage > Satellite Beach, FL > (321) 773-7088 (home) > (321-961-9219 (cell) > www.BlenderLady.com > (AKA the Vitamix Lady :-) > <))>< Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 13, 2012 Report Share Posted May 13, 2012 I am new to VM and Green Smoothies, but the family has been having at least one (usually 2) a day for the past 3 weeks. We put a banana in every single one. I did try without, but the family all agreed that it was better with a ripe banana. It does have to be very ripe though. I purchased bananas in bulk from CostCo and when they were all very ripe, into the freezer they went. I let the frozen banana soak in hot water while I prep the rest of the ingredients and it will then slide easily out of its skin and into the VM whole. We don’t use any sort of sweetener at all and none of us feel it needs any. Our smoothies are very simple though (for example: apple, orange, banana, and lots of spinach) – perhaps when we branch out we’ll need something for sweating. Jeri Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 13, 2012 Report Share Posted May 13, 2012 ,Are the bananas peeled, with the "strings" removed?Those are the only bitter parts of a banana I know of,unlees the banana's are too green. G From: R <brianinplattecity@...> " " < > Sent: Sunday, May 13, 2012 5:51 AM Subject: BANANA'S I finaly figured out the cause of my occasional "bland-bitter" smoothies. Its the banana! i have experimented over the course of a few weeks and it is for sure the banana that is causing this bitter smoothies. And yes, i add sweeteners to my smoothies and this has had no affect on the bitterness. I thought for sure it must be the Kale but now I know for sure it is the bananas. Bananas will never be on my list of ingredients for smoothies again. With the supplements and my diet, im positive excluding bananas wont harm my diet. Im posting this because I am curious if anyone else has had this experience? I make wonderful smoothies and do not always add bananas, but when I do.... yuk.. bitter bitter.. this seems strange to me. Its like the banana "draws out" the bitterness of the other items in my smoothie.... i think i will do a banana exclusive smoothie when I get home today to confirm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 13, 2012 Report Share Posted May 13, 2012 Jeri for me I peel and freeze the bananas so much easier to use.. I get a large gallon size freezer bags and lay them down and into the freezer .. in less than an hour they are pretty hard and easy to store the bag just about anywhere in the freezer. Surprisingly they don't stick together.. .. I usually have several bags in the freeze at all times.. and I get them in big batches like you at Sam's club or similar.. > > I am new to VM and Green Smoothies, but the family has been having at least one (usually 2) a day for the past 3 weeks. We put a banana in every single one. I did try without, but the family all agreed that it was better with a ripe banana. It does have to be very ripe though. > > > > I purchased bananas in bulk from CostCo and when they were all very ripe, into the freezer they went. I let the frozen banana soak in hot water while I prep the rest of the ingredients and it will then slide easily out of its skin and into the VM whole. > > > > We don’t use any sort of sweetener at all and none of us feel it needs any. Our smoothies are very simple though (for example: apple, orange, banana, and lots of spinach) †" perhaps when we branch out we’ll need something for sweating. > > > > Jeri > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 13, 2012 Report Share Posted May 13, 2012 We have come to the conclusion the bananas are not ripe enough.Sent from my Samsung Epicâ„¢ 4G Carrol Ganoe <pilgrimbrooks@...> wrote: ,Are the bananas peeled, with the "strings" removed?Those are the only bitter parts of a banana I know of,unlees the banana's are too green. G From: R <brianinplattecity@...> " " < > Sent: Sunday, May 13, 2012 5:51 AM Subject: BANANA'S I finaly figured out the cause of my occasional "bland-bitter" smoothies. Its the banana! i have experimented over the course of a few weeks and it is for sure the banana that is causing this bitter smoothies. And yes, i add sweeteners to my smoothies and this has had no affect on the bitterness. I thought for sure it must be the Kale but now I know for sure it is the bananas. Bananas will never be on my list of ingredients for smoothies again. With the supplements and my diet, im positive excluding bananas wont harm my diet. Im posting this because I am curious if anyone else has had this experience? I make wonderful smoothies and do not always add bananas, but when I do.... yuk.. bitter bitter.. this seems strange to me. Its like the banana "draws out" the bitterness of the other items in my smoothie.... i think i will do a banana exclusive smoothie when I get home today to confirm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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