Health tips by Barmer: Fancy an ice cream? Try nice cream!

Health tips by Barmer: Fancy an ice cream? Try nice cream!

The summer arrived and we start craving ice cream to sweeten up our evenings or lunch breaks. Classic ice cream flavours are delicious – but there’s a fresher alternative that’s richer in vitamins: nice cream – home-made ice cream made from fresh fruit. It’s quick to make and tastes pretty “nice” too. The base is made from chopped and frozen banana. This is put in a blender along with other fruits and ingredients and whipped into a creamy ice cream mixture.

The basic nice cream recipe:

Chop the ripe banana into small pieces and freeze it for at least 5 hours. Allow the banana pieces to thaw for 5-10 minutes before blending. Put them in a blender, add the other ingredients and blend until creamy. Pour into bowls or ice cream cones and sprinkle with whatever toppings you like, such as almond slivers, berries, seeds or nuts.

Because you choose all the ingredients for the fruity summer snack yourself, you know exactly what’s in it. So it’s perfect for people with allergies, vegans or anyone who wants to avoid colourings, preserva- tives or artificial flavours. Plus, there’s no need to add sugar because banana provides the sweetness: the riper the banana, the sweeter the ice cream. Lots of different fruits go well with this, for example strawberry, mango, blueberry or honeydew melon. Simply chop fresh, washed fruit into small pieces, put them in the freezer and you’ll always have the tasty ingredients to hand. By the way, freezing also preserves vitamins, secondary plant ingredients and flavour. Have you chopped too much? No problem: fruit can be kept frozen for up to 15 months.

Because nice cream contains so much fresh fruit, it also helps us to reach the two portions of fruit a day recommended by the German Nutrition Society (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Ernährung). But bear in mind: “Nice cream is higher in calories than fresh fruit if milk or vegan alternatives are added. Plus, nice cream doesn’t provide any dietary fibre because of the processing – fresh fruit is better here!” Micaela Schmidt, nutritionist at BARMER, advises. So, enjoy it in moderation and don’t forget to eat fresh fruit as well now and again. Because: “There’s no such thing as healthy ice cream, even if it’s homemade,” says nutrition expert Schmidt.

“But a healthy and balanced diet also allows ‘sins’ like sweets in moderation, and these include ice cream!” So you can relax and treat yourself to a “nice” refreshing ice cream from time to time.

Strawberry Nice Cream

Ingredients (for 2 portions):

  • 2 bananas, sliced and frozen
  • 200 g frozen strawberries (bought frozen or frozen at home) • 2 tbsp milk or plant-based alternative
  • A little lemon juice
    Allow all the ingredients to thaw a little, put them in the blender and puree. Enjoy!

Raspberry Swirl

Ingredients (for 2 portions):

  • 2 bananas, sliced and frozen
  • 100 g frozen raspberries (bought frozen or frozen at home)
  • 2 tbsp natural or soy yoghurt
    Allow all the ingredients to thaw a little, put them in the blender, puree and tuck in!

Chocoholic

Ingredients (for 2 portions):

  • 2 bananas, sliced and frozen
  • 2 tbsp cocoa powder
  • 3 tbsp milk or plant-based alternative
  • 1 bar of chocolate
    Allow the banana to thaw a little, put it in the blender, add the remaining ingredients and blend until creamy. Topping: Finely chop the chocolate and sprinkle over the top!

Mango Dream

Ingredients (for 2 portions):

  • 2 bananas, sliced and frozen
  • 1/2 a mango, sliced (bought frozen or frozen at home)
  • 1 tbsp lime juice
    Allow the fruit to thaw a little, put in the blender with the lime juice, puree and gobble up!

Extra tip

Why not mix up the recipes? Try out different fruits or add desiccated coconut, almond butter or herbs. How about a blueberry basil nice cream, for example?