Think of my delight when I found a new product in the frozen food aisle at Trader Joe's: Frozen chocolate dipped bananas. It was like a dream come true. I love bananas--on my cereal, in bread, in my pancakes or straight out of the peel. I love chocolate--in any dessert, in ice cream and most definitely in chip form in my pancakes. The two together in a prepackaged, frozen dessert seemed like a great option. I repeat, seemed like a great option.
I unwrapped one of the "Gone Bananas" frozen, chocolate bananas for a dessert this evening and was expecting a delicious, cold treat. One bite was unpleasant, two was just to make sure the first bite was awful and three...well, I spit out the third bite. There was an odd flavor, which can only be described as tasting like a chemical of some sort. Curious, I consulted the box and found the following ingredients: Banana, chocolate (cocoa paste, cocoa butter, sugar, soy lecithin), Sunflower oil. Maybe it's the sunflower oil? Nope, according to most sources, this oil is light in flavor. Maybe I'm not used to the taste of Ecuadorean bananas? Or maybe it's the soy lecithin.
According to
Soyconnection.com, a website brought to you by the United Soybean Board, "Soy lecithin offers a multifunctional, flexible and versatile tool. It is probably best known for its emulsifying properties, which help promote solidity in margarine and give consistent texture to dressings and other creamy products. Lecithin is also used in chocolates and coatings and to counteract spattering during frying. Additionally, its unique lipid molecular structure makes lecithin useful for pharmaceutical and cosmetic applications and various industrial uses such as paints, textiles, lubricants and waxes." MMMM, waxy bananas. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind solid margarine, but in general a substance that can also make its way into a can of paint is usually one I try to avoid eating. And here I thought I was just going to write about the tasteless frozen bananas and call it a day!
There's some debate out there about whether soy lecithin is good or bad for you. So many people have been marching around these days touting the health benefits of soy and soy products, though I'm still a skeptic (come on, one little green bean is supposed to revolutionize your diet? I don't think so). In an article on
Chow, a food media site owned by CBS Interactive, soy lecithin is harmless, according to Tara Gidus, a dietician and spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association. It contains choline, which in some studies is thought to improve brain development and prevent heart disease. Yet others who comment on the article mention stomach pains, allergies and the creepy chemical processes used to make soy lecithin. But does it taste good? Well, it's in many chocolate bars and products so apparently it can't taste that bad.
Overall, I'm not quite sure what to think about soy lecithin, and would probably have to do way more research (which at the moment, I don't have time for). Either way, stay away from the Trader Joe's Chocolate dipped frozen bananas. The funky taste makes it more worthwhile to buy a bunch of bananas, melt up some chocolate and dip them yourself. And as a bonus, you'll know exactly how they were made.
My darling roommate and friend, Sarah, invited me to her pre-Thanksgiving potluck dinner last weekend. Not one to turn down an opportunity to cook, I whipped up some carmelized carrots and took part in the festivities.
