WDBJ7 Roanoke News and Weather NRV Lynchburg Danville | Invention by Virginia Tech students will delight the taste buds

Invention by Virginia Tech students will delight the taste buds

Virginia Tech students are known for their inventions, and the latest one may have you going bananas. 

Most of us love chocolate and crave a banana split from time to time.  So why not combine the two? 

"We thought it would be fun to play with bananas and chocolate," says Sabrina Hannah.

Some Food Science and Technology students have invented something called banana splitters.  They are made up of frozen bite-sized slices of banana filled with frozen yogurt and then covered in chocolate.  It's hard to believe no one has thought of this before.

"We found that surprising, too," says Kevin Holland.  "There's a frozen chocolate banana out there covered in chocolate, but no one ever thought to put the frozen yogurt in the banana."

Making the banana splitters isn't as easy as it sounds.  The students had to find a liquid solution to prevent the bananas from going brown.  They also tested it for safety and shelf life.  But what many of you want to know is, does it taste good?

"We conducted a consumer test and the response was excellent," says Annie Aigster.

The novelties are not on the market right now but they have received a patent.  All they need now is a marketer.

"We would like to see it commercialized since we've received so much demand and response," says John Koontz.  "We are very hopeful we'll see this on grocery shelves."

Until then, these inventors will have it all to themselves.

"We've been eating on them the last few months," says Aigster.

And since they use non-fat yogurt and dark chocolate, it's actually somewhat healthy.  That's good anyway you slice it.