So I’ve continued to experiment with aquafaba every time I make anything with beans (which is, like, every day) and have had various failures and successes. The other day,  friends, both of whom are vegetarian and one of whom is gluten-free, joined us for dinner. Cloud Nine, the gluten-free bakery near us, where we always pick up fabulous treats for Susan was closed, but, fortunately, I’d frozen some bananas, so I made mango-banana ice “cream” with my Yonanas machine:

I topped it with some sweet cashew cream and a sprinkling of crushed hazelnuts and shaved chocolate, and it was quite good, but I thought it would have tasted better with something fluffier than the cashew cream.

So today I saved the aquafaba from my chickpeas (for hummus) and tried adding a few things gradually to see what I’d end up with. The results were amazing!!

Aquafaba Whipped Cream

• 1/2 cup aquafaba (drained from a can of any unsalted beans–even black beans, which will make the whip a beautiful mauve colour)
• 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
• 1/8 – 1/4 cup maple syrup (I used 1/8th, but I don’t like things super sweet, so pour it in gradually to your taste)
• 3 TBS lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Whip the aquafaba and cream of tartar on high for five or six minutes. Add the vanilla and lemon juice, and then gradually add the maple syrup until it looks like this:

And then use it to top your Yonanas ice cream…..

I can’t believe that this decadent-looking dessert is made of mango, banana, and bean juice (with a little lemon juice and a little maple syrup)! Pretty damn healthy, SUPER delicious, SUPER cheap, and, most important, you don’t feel like crap after you’ve eaten it. Honestly, I love real ice cream, but I feel like someone’s punched me in my gallbladder every time I eat anything with heavy cream in it.

Oh, and another cool thing–apparently, bartenders in New York prefer using aquafaba to using whipped egg whites in things like Pisco Sours because it doesn’t have the sulfur-y taste/smell of the egg whites. According to New York Magazine:

“In fact, the bar community is the most excited about chickpea water’s uses. Even if it sounds like a strange addition to a pisco sour, the bartenders who use it say it’s better than raw eggs because it doesn’t impart the “sulfur” flavor that egg whites can.”

And here’s a longer article from Eater.com on bartenders using aquafaba.

So, it’s not just weird vegans who are into this stuff!!

Oh, and an FYI: the whipped aquafaba will separate after a few hours, but if you re-whip it, it will re-emulsify. I’m not sure how many times you can re-whip it, however, so I would suggest whipping it right before you serve it and then binning it once the dessert “event” is over and no one wants seconds or thirds. If you toss it, you’re only throwing away something you’ve likely been pouring down the drain for years anyway!

UPDATE: So I tried freezing the aquafaba whipped cream, but I didn’t have high hopes because it did not refrigerate well in the past. After a few hours, it looked like this:

 

And here’s a spoonful close-up:

 

AND…it’s delicious!!! Like a light fluffy sorbet!! A full cup of this frozen deliciousness is about 75 calories (almost all from the maple syrup).

Oh, and look at this beautiful piece by Megan Bennett (FiveCornersCreative) that Susan and Bob brought us for a retirement gift (they know well my love of crows!!):