KiBa (Kirsch-Banane Saft) - Cherry banana juice

Love at first bite? No. Love at first sip? Yes. Today I share with you my favourite drink, a KiBa, or cherry banana juice. My first KiBa experience is somewhat hazy....it was in a little bar in the south of Germany on a cold Winter's night. To beat the chill, I ordered a hot water. Yes, certainly the safest drink to consume in a crowded bar. Having finished the hot water and about to order another one, a friend recommended I try a KiBa. It sounded very strange to me; cherry and banana?

I ordered the drink and surprise surprise it was amazing! It's cherry and banana! Together! From that moment, my drink of choice was always KiBa. It was my drink of Germany.

I wonder why this wonderful mix of liquids has not found its way over to Australia; we have cherries, we have bananas and we have juice manufacturing plants. Yet, our bars and other venues where one can purchase a beverage are full of boring non alcoholic drinks such as soft drinks, orange juice and....soft drink.

In Germany many foods are available in cherry banana flavour, including tea, yoghurt, butter milk, lollies, pre mixed juices, cake, quark, ice cream and jam! We're missing out. Unfortunately, one cannot buy the full range of German foods at Australian Aldi stores either. Even more disappointing for me is the fact that there is not even one Aldi in Adelaide!

Germany is definately a 'love at first bite' destination. It's not all Schnitzel, Sauerkraut and beer. Infact, I never had Schnitzel when I was there. Although, I did live above a Schnitzel restaurant where the menu featured twenty different kinds of schnitzel. I miss Germany so much!

My favourite German foods #1 (top to bottom, left to right): Kalterhund - a rich chocolate, copha biscuit cake. Samba - a hazelnut spread which is even better than Nutella! German breakfast/brunch - Mmmm. Pfluemli - plum puree for your bread which I used to roll up in turkey slices

My favourite German foods #2 (top to bottom, left to right): Spaghetti Eis (spaghetti icecream); icecream put through some soft of machine to make it look like spaghetti, on top of a lump of cream, topped with sauce and chocolate. Pommes - hot chips with a range of toppings. Eszet Schnitten - chocolate slices for your toast in the morning. Bunte Eier - colourful pre boiled eggs for picnics/lunch boxes

The hardest part of preparing this drink in Australia is sourcing the two ingredients. Ideally, you require banana and cherry nectar, not juice. The closest thing I found to banana nectar/juice was a banana, pear and apple juice from the Polish shop, Sevenhills, in the Adelaide Central Market. I required a striaght banana juice and therefore made my own.

Cherry nectar/juice also proved difficult to find. I could find berry juices, some containing a small percentage of cherry, but no straight cherry juice. I did see a carton of German Sauerkirsch (sour cherry) juice at Sevenhills, but I did not purchase it at that very moment as I did not want to carry it around for two hours. Upon my return to the shop later in the evening, it was gone!

The closet thing I found to cherry nectar/juice, with a whole 10% cherries!

In Coles I found a litre bottle of apple and cherry juice from the good people at Ashton Valley Crush. Con - it was not straight cherry juice. Pro - with 90% apple, 10% cherry and no added sugar, preservatives or scary ingredients, it was definitely healthier than what I was actually looking to buy.

Are you ready to make some?

KiBa - Cherry banana juice 
Makes 3 medium sized drinks.
The straw is important - this way you can chose if you want to drink the banana or cherry part of the drink.
Reading up on the drink, some people recommend that the banana be cold and the cherry be at room temperature. I followed these recommendations.

What you need

• Approx 500ml cherry nectar/juice (or the closet thing you can find to cherry nectar/juice - I used apple and cherry)
• 4 bananas, cold (place in the fridge for a few hours)
• Drinking straws

What you need to do

1. Peel the bananas, chop into pieces and place into a bowl.
2. Mash the bananas with a fork and puree further using a stick blender.
3. To achieve a drinkable consistency, add water, teaspoon by teaspoon to the banana puree. Once it is thin enough to drink through a straw, it is ready.
4. If the puree is no longer cold, place into the freezer until it cools.
5. Fill up three glasses half way with banana puree.
6. Slowly pour the cherry nectar/juice into the glasses.
7. Place a straw into each glass and enjoy:)

The drink was pleasant, refreshing and actually healthy. The banana puree could have been thinned out a bit more which I think would have given the drink more of a marbled effect. The only disappointment was that the 'cherry' part tasted like apple. If I happen to find some cherry nectar or plain cherry juice, I will buy it and make the drink again. But yes, nothing wrong with the drink, it was good:)

Banana puree is also great on its own. If you cannot find any sort of cherry juice, you could just drink pureed banana:)