The Votes Are In: Attitudes Toward Organic Frozen Yogurt

Fro-yo girl here. I recently asked readers "How do you feel about organic frozen yogurt?" The results are in. Voters either love organic frozen yogurt (40%) or are indifferent (24%). Only 6% said they actually disliked it, 8% slightly prefer it and 1 out of 5 hadn't tried it yet. The good news for organic frozen yogurt is that most people who try it love it.

Does organic frozen yogurt taste better? Is it better for you? There was an article in Time that talked about an experiment at a mall where people tasted cookies, plain yogurt and potato chips. Some believed these products were organic and others were told they were conventional. The products were the same...but those who thought they were tasting the organic versions rated them as healthier (lower in fat, lower in calories) and better tasting. This is known as the halo effect.

As you can see from my poll, not everyone feels that way when it comes to organic fro-yo. I've heard that some people who are looking for a frozen yogurt that tastes like ice cream, don't like organic frozen yogurt. They associate it with tart frozen yogurt.

If you're looking for organic frozen yogurt mix, Straus Family Creamery of Petaluma, CA seemed to be supplying most of the organic fro-yo market. Their fro-yo is served at Whole Foods and Berkeley Bowl. Potter Family Farms based in Visalia, CA has been making inroads as an organic fro-yo mix supplier. They offer 25 all-natural organic flavors, including sweet and tart ones. Speaking of organic fro-yo, I have an organic fro-yo announcement that I'll make soon.

You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.

Menchie's Signature Fro-yo Spoons & Smileage Reward Program

Fro-yo girl here. I finally have the green Menchie's spoon. I'm amazed by the detail. The front features Menchie and it says this is my mix. The back shows his waffle shirt and pants. His little feet stick out on the side of the spoon. Too cute. The Menchie's that I visited only had the green spoon but pink, yellow and magenta ones also exist. And possibly other colors??? I wish I knew.




I also received the mySmileage Passport with a card and keychain. It's the new rewards program. They used to have stamp cards that were only good for one location. This new card keeps track of your smiles and is accepted at all participating Menchie's locations.

Smiles don't expire and you get 1 smile per dollar spent and 25 free smiles for registering the card online. Plus they mention exclusive rewards and offers and a special b-day treat. See all the rules here.

You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.

Future Fro-yo Shop Pictures: Yogurtland Oxnard

Fro-yo girl here. The news broke in December that Yogurtland is coming to Oxnard. The shop isn't open yet but I spotted 4 construction workers there today. The door was wide open. The fro-yo machine wall is up with spaces for 8 machines (16 flavors). The tiles aren't up yet. It's a large space in the new Fresh & Easy shopping center.



The neighboring Space 1680 is empty (doesn't appear to have been leased).

You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.

* YOGURTLAND OXNARD: 1670 Gonzales Rd, Oxnard, CA

Happy Fro-yo Easter 2011

Fro-yo girl here. Easter is tomorrow! I've been looking at Easter candy for months now. I'm waiting till tomorrow to have my Sour Patch Bunnies. My favorite Easter candy is still Cadbury Mini Eggs, which are only available during the Easter season. They're so good with vanilla fro-yo. I wonder how those chocolate dipped Marshmallow Peeps would be with fro-yo.

Snowee Frozen Yogurt is having an Easter Egg Hunt tomorrow (they also had one today) at their store from 1:30 - 3:30 PM. Such a cute idea! Kids 6 and under can participate in the hunt while kids 7 - 12 years old will get a special egg. The Easter Bunny will be there.

Yogurt Mountain has a Chocolate Bunny fro-yo flavor and special spring toppings like candy eggs, jelly bunnies, jelly beans, and pastel chocolate gems.

I think Jelly Belly should make a yogurt flavored bean. Maybe next year?

You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.

* SNOWEE: 168 West 25th Avenue, San Mateo, CA

Happy Earth Day 2011

Fro-yo girl here. It's Earth Day 2011 and I wanted to give my "Most Eco-Friendly Fro-yo Shop" award to Culture Organic Frozen Yogurt in Palo Alto, CA. They also won this award last year. I applaud their commitment to the environment, which they've had since day 1.

About Culture:
* Store decor features recycled materials.
* Uses compostable cups and spoons.
* Sells reusable fro-yo cups and give you a discount for using the reusable cup.
* A Greenopia recommended business.
* Their fro-yo AND toppings are organic
* Uses local, seasonal fruit

And today (only) they're giving away a free small fro-yo with 1 topping with the purchase of a reusable fro-yo bowl! You can see mine in the picture, the green monster with tangerine fro-yo.


As for the wall of shame, a fro-yo shop that still uses styrofoam cups, I'm afraid that goes to Yumi Yogurt. Yumi - I still love you because of all the fro-yo you put in my cup.

You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.

* CULTURE ORGANIC FROZEN YOGURT: 340 S. California Dr., Palo Alto, CA

Pinkberry Chilly Bliss Bag

Fro-yo girl here. If you love Pinkberry and enjoy home fro-yo consumption, you absolutely need to get the new Pinkberry Chilly Bliss Bag for $9.99. Use the Bliss Bag (a cooler bag) and get $1 off your future take home Pinkberry purchases...it pays for itself with 10 take home purchases. The bag features the same aqua & lime colored thin stripes as their take home container and the exterior of some of their stores - nicely coordinated. The roomy cooler bag would look cute at the beach.

You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.

Future Fro-yo Shop Picture: Yogurtland Palo Alto

Fro-yo girl here. Yes, it's true...I spotted the Yogurtland Coming Soon sign at the Modernbook shop on University Avenue. While Palo Alto has plenty of quality fro-yo, it lacked a good self-serve fro-yo place (L'Amour Frozen Yogurt is expensive and inferior). It looks like the sign hasn't been there for long. I'm still reeling from the closure of Satura Cakes, so seeing Yogurtland is on the way picks up my spirits. It's going to be even more difficult to pick which fro-yo shop to go to in Palo Alto.
You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.

* YOGURTLAND PALO ALTO: 494 University Avenue, Palo Alto, CA

April 's Flavor: Wildberry Tart at Tuttimelon West Portal

Fro-yo girl here. Maybe it's the feeling that spring has arrived, but lately, I can't stop craving fro-yo. The Wildberry Tart sign at Tuttimelon West Portal caught my eye a few weeks ago...but I got distracted by the opening of Teaway Express, TuttiSpoons, and a trip to Seattle.





Unfortunately, Tuttimelon West Portal doesn't have the TuttiSpoons but they do have an April fro-yo flavor that's worth trying - Wildberry Tart. Wildberry is made with the juice of blueberries, raspberries and strawberries.It's a delicious combination of berry flavors. The blueberry notes are the most prominent, followed by raspberry and then strawberry. The fro-yo is thick and creamy with a sweet finish and that Tuttimelon tartness that I've grown to love.

You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.

* TUTTIMELON WEST PORTAL: 44 West Portal Ave., San Francisco, CA

Julie's Organic Lemon Frozen Yogurt Sandwiches Review

Fro-yo girl here. Julie's Organic has one variety of frozen yogurt sandwiches, Lemon Yogurt with Vanilla Cookies. A package of sandwiches in a cute tube costs $5.69 at Whole Foods.

The round vanilla cookies have a pretty pattern but the taste and texture (hard, crumbly, like sand cookies) are strange. I realized after the fact that they were vegan cookies. The frozen yogurt is sweet and lemony, which is disappointing since I love a good tart lemon flavor. I also didn't like the thick, sticky, gelato like consistency.

3 out of 5 stars.

You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.

Mochi for Sale Online

Fro-yo girl here. When it comes to fro-yo toppings, mochi is my very favorite topping. I've been fond of it ever since I remember (long before I tried frozen yogurt). I remember mum used to make glutinous sweet rice patties for me. She'd add water to sweet rice flour till it formed a dough, shape patties and pan fry them till golden. They were sticky and chewy. Or she'd use the same dough and shape it into small balls that she'd drop into a boiling pot of red bean soup. Those chewy balls coated with red bean soup were the best.

I'm sure fro-yo is responsible for rising mochi sales and the introduction of new mochi products.

There's even several places you can order mochi online, including:
* SunnySweetNovember on Etsy: tiny bits that seem perfect for fro-yo, flavors include vanilla, chocolate truffle, cayenne, lemon, cinnamon, coconut, matcha, hazelnut, butter, almond, orange zest
* Simply Mochi: limited to the Bay Area, these are creative filled dessert mochi, like Oreo Cheesecake
* Fugetsu-do: your traditional Japanese mochi can be ordered from JapanSuper.com
* Nutsonline.com has chocolate covered and black sesame mochi bits

I found some mochi recipes that seem really easy. Baking the mochi probably is better than microwaving it...will have to try with the sweet rice flour that I bought today.

* Microwave mochi recipe: http://www.ehow.com/how_2075110_make-mochi.html
* Baked mochi recipe: http://www.ehow.com/how_4876667_make-mochi-recipe.html

You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.

Fro-yo Tweets

Fro-yo girl here. Since I joined Twitter, I've tweeted over 2,500 times. I love using it to follow fro-yo shops all over the world (though I tend not to add the ones that don't tweet in English), follow fro-yo conversations, retweet fro-yo news and promotions, and more. Free fro-yo announcements are a favorite of mine, plus learning about new shops and new flavors.

I just don't understand fro-yo shops that create Twitter accounts and don't tweet...or very rarely tweet even though it's free and takes very little time. Bericup's last tweet was on the day it opened. Yo-Go Frozen Yogurt doesn't even have one tweet. What a shame and what a lost opportunity. I'm sure many fans of the shop who are on Twitter would love to receive timely information from the fro-yo shop and it helps keep the shop on someone's mind.

One thing I always wonder is what flavors are currently at the shop. Some old school fro-yo shops put this in a recorded message that plays when you call the shop. Some put the flavors on their website...but when flavors change often, it seems easier to just post these on Twitter (or Facebook). A new flavor or the return of an old favorite can prompt me to visit the shop.

I also like the more creative fro-yo tweets that encourage readers to respond, like ones that pose fun questions, e.g., 21 Choices asked "if you were a frozen yogurt, you would be?" Contests, special promotions (e.g., mention the secret word and get a free topping), events, celebrity sightings, sharing pics of customers w/ their fro-yo, sharing positive testimonials - fro-yo shops have so much to talk about.

You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.

Yogurt Review: Skyr & Eros

Fro-yo girl here. During my Whole Foods shopping trips, I found two yogurt lines that are exclusive to Whole Foods, Skyr.is and Eros. Technically you can get Skyr.is elsewhere (Iceland) but in the U.S. only Whole Foods carries it.

Skyr.is is imported from Iceland and at $3.39 each (6 oz. cup), the most expensive yogurt I've seen (though I think the price has dropped to $2.99). Whole Foods SF had three flavors: blueberry, plain, strawberry. There's a vanilla one too, but I didn't see it there. I tried blueberry. The list of ingredients is short: milk, sugar, blueberry juice, elderberry juice, citric acid, live & active cultures.

* Skyr.is blueberry yogurt: very creamy, smooth, dense and thick, more tangy than sour, liked the bright fresh fruit flavor but it was definitely sweeter than Siggi's...I still prefer Siggi's. 4.5 out of 5 stars.


Eros Organic Greek Yogurt is made for Whole Foods and it claims to be the first and only yogurt made with Certified Humane Raised and Handled organic low fat cow's milk from small family farms. It uses an all natural evaporation method to thicken the yogurt, not powdered milk solids or gelatin. It comes in Plain, Vanilla, Honey, Strawberry and Blueberry and is $1.99 for a 6 oz. cup. I chose honey which is made with 2% milk, wildflower honey, pectin, live & active cultures.

* Eros honey yogurt: definitely tangy, very thick, creamy, and heavy. The texture was oddly sticky (in an unpleasant way) and the honey had a bitter aftertaste. 3 out of 5 stars.

Skyr is even thicker than Greek style yogurt. It's technically a soft cheese.

You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.