••••BANANA SMOOTHIE INSTRUCTIONS••••

(Source: Chiquitabanana.com & iconfinder.com photo)

How to Make a Perfect Banana Smoothie

Here's a short course in the proper banana smoothie technique.

• Start with the perfect banana.  For the most intense banana flavor, we recommend a Chiquita at room temperature that is yellow or yellow with brown spots.
• Peel and cut into bite-size chunks for quick blending and consistent texture. This is a smoothie, not a chunky.
• Use fresh ice. If your tap water tastes yucky, make your ice with filtered or bottled water. As soon as the cubes freeze, store them in air-tight plastic bags so they don't take on any unsavory freezer flavors. 
• Wash, pat dry and cut up any other fruit ingredients before you add them to the blender.
• Don't overfill the blender unless you enjoy cleaning smoothie recipe off your walls.
• Blend until smooth. Pour and enjoy immediately. 

Smoothie Trivia

Smoothies are blended beverages that are often mixed with fresh fruit, crushed or shaved ice, frozen fruit, or other fruit juices. Smoothies usually do not contain ice cream (that’s what milk shakes are for). Smoothies date back to the 1960s when they were offered as healthy alternatives to milk shakes but it wasn't until the 1990s that they began to really catch on. Stephen Kuhnau, founder of Smoothie King, the second largest smoothie franchise in the US, claims to have coined the term “smoothie” in the late 1960s though a company named Waring made a blender in the 1940s that had an accompanying booklet publishing recipes for “smoothees”.