Thursday, February 28, 2019

Morinaga Yogurt Caramel Review


Fro-yo girl here. I found a new yogurt candy at Nijiya Market in Little Tokyo, Los Angeles. Morinaga Yogurt Caramel is imported from Japan. One box is 2.07 oz with 12 individually wrapped square caramels. This flavor is limited edition. Nijiya was selling Morinaga caramels for $2.19 a box.

One serving (the entire box) is 241 calories, 4.5g total fat, 34g sugars, and 47g total carbohydrates.

The caramel was soft, creamy, and chewy. It had a tangy sweet yogurt flavor that reminded me of Yakult. I like firmer caramels. It seemed cloyingly sweet to me.

Ingredients: Sugar syrup, sweetened condensed milk, sugar, sweetened defatted condensed milk powder, vegetable oil, hydrolyzed wheat protein, butter, concentrated yogurt, sorbitol, citric acid, artificial flavor, soy lecithin

3 out of 5 stars.

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

Looking for more frozen yogurt news, discussion boards, and resources? Check out the International Frozen Yogurt Association website at http://internationalfrozenyogurt.com/. The IFYA is the independent voice of the frozen yogurt industry.

Tuesday, February 26, 2019

Shirakiku Yogurt Chocolate Review


Fro-yo girl here. I found another yogurt candy to try, Yogurt Chocolate from Shirakiku. Yogurt Chocolate is a product of Korea. Combining yogurt and chocolate did not sound appealing to me, but I had to investigate.

Shirakiku Yogurt Chocolate comes in a 1.41 oz pouch. One serving (i.e., one pouch) is 190 calories, 10g total fat, 26g total carbohydrate, and 20g sugar. 99 Ranch Market was selling Yogurt Chocolate for $1.19, regular price.

The candy looks like a white M&M, though it’s a bit larger than your plain M&M. There is a thin hard shell, similar to M&Ms. Inside, you’ll find (brown) chocolate and an enriched yogurt core that’s white in the center. While it looked like an M&M, it tasted much worse. It tasted medicinal, like children’s chewable vitamins. It was sweet, bitter, and tasted like powder. I found it inedible. Children’s chewable vitamins taste better.

Ingredients: Compound chocolate (sugar, hydrogenated palm kernel stearin oil, cacao powder, whey powder, lactose, soy lecithin, artificial flavors, whole milk powder), sugar, powdered sugar, gelatin (beef), titanium dioxide, carnauba wax, yogurt flavor, Xylitol, yogurt powder (skim yogurt powder, skim milk powder, citric acid, yogurt flavor), vitamin C, magnesium stearate, maltose, monohydrated dextrose

1 out of 5 stars

* 99 RANCH MARKET: 1300 S Golden West Ave., Arcadia, CA 91007

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

Looking for more frozen yogurt news, discussion boards, and resources? Check out the International Frozen Yogurt Association website at http://internationalfrozenyogurt.com/. The IFYA is the independent voice of the frozen yogurt industry.

Saturday, February 23, 2019

Yogurt Haven Closing Soon in Eagle Rock, Los Angeles, CA



Fro-yo girl here. The rumors are true. Yogurt Haven (2256 Colorado Blvd., Ste 101, Los Angeles) is closing at the end of this month. You still have a few days to go there and grab one last cup of frozen yogurt and use your gift cards. Tonight is their final Open Mic night, from 5 PM – 8 PM.

Yogurt Haven Eagle Rock would have turned 10 years old this August, but it is closing at the end of this month. It was the first froyo shop in Eagle Rock when it opened in 2009. Their first location was actually in Studio City. That location opened (and closed) in 2008. In 2011, Yogurt Haven opened a third location in Valley Glen (Los Angeles) in 2011.

I got my last cup of froyo, peanut butter frozen yogurt with peanut butter sauce, whipped cream, Butterfinger, and a cookie divider. It was 52 cents/oz.

After Yogurt Haven closes, Eagle Rock will have two froyo shops: Yogurtland and Menchie’s.

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

Looking for more frozen yogurt news, discussion boards, and resources? Check out the International Frozen Yogurt Association website at http://internationalfrozenyogurt.com/. The IFYA is the independent voice of the frozen yogurt industry.

Thursday, February 21, 2019

Menchie’s New How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World Froyo Cups



Fro-yo girl here. Menchie’s has a new cup, inspired by the third movie of the How to Train Your Dragon movie franchise from DreamWorks Animation. I have’t seen the movie and I don’t know anything about the series, but the cups are limited edition. It looks like there’s one design. The cup features two dragons and two human characters.

Froyo cups are okay but froyo spoons are way better because they’re reusable.

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

Looking for more frozen yogurt news, discussion boards, and resources? Check out the International Frozen Yogurt Association website at http://internationalfrozenyogurt.com/. The IFYA is the independent voice of the frozen yogurt industry.

Tuesday, February 19, 2019

Sugiotoya Puru Mocchi (Yogurt Gummy Candy) Review



Fro-yo girl here. I found another yogurt flavored candy, while shopping at Nijiya Market in San Francisco.

Sugiotoya Puru Mocchi is imported from Japan. It’s a gummy candy. One bag is 40g, 130 calories, 0g fat, 34.4g sugars. Nijiya was selling Puru Mochi for $2.49 a bag. There were two other flavors: grape and Mandarin orange; these were not yogurt flavored. I’ve never had Puru Mocchi candy before.

* Puru Mocchi yogurt gummy candy: The bag contains 8 small individually wrapped cubes. Each cube is coated in flavored fine sugar. The texture is firm but not too firm and chewy, like mochi/glutinous rice. The yogurt flavor tastes like Yakult. It’s sweet and tangy. It really is like mochi but more jelly like. It’s not bad but I don’t like Yakult. I did like the texture.

Ingredients: Starch syrup, sugar, pasteurized lactic acid beverage, glutinous rice flour, potato starch, glutinous rice, lactic acid, D-sorbitol, gelling agent (polysaccharide thickener), citric acid, stabilizers (modified starch), flavors, emulsifiers

What's interesting is that the bag of candy has 1 billion yogurt cultures.

3.5 out of 5 stars.

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

Looking for more frozen yogurt news, discussion boards, and resources? Check out the International Frozen Yogurt Association website at http://internationalfrozenyogurt.com/. The IFYA is the independent voice of the frozen yogurt industry.

Thursday, February 14, 2019

Nancy’s Probiotic Oatmilk Non-Dairy Yogurt Review



Fro-yo girl here. I found a new yogurt product at Sprouts: Nancy’s Probiotic Oatmilk Non-Dairy Yogurt. The shelf tag said new. Each cup was $1.99. I’ve never had oatmilk yogurt before. It’s described as “A creamy and delicious plant-based yogurt alternative, made from gluten-free Oatmilk and offering 6g of plant protein per serving. And of course, each serving has Billions of LIVE dairy-free Probiotics!” It’s gluten-free, kosher.

* Vanilla: The appearance was unusual – light brown & slick. It’s not creamy but more like jelly. The flavor was pleasant: tangy, sour with a light vanilla flavor and an oat aftertaste. One serving is 100 calories, 6 oz, 1.5g fat, 7g sugars & 16g carbs.

* Strawberry Hibiscus: This was also like jelly but the strong strawberry flavor overwhelmed the oat flavor. It was tangy and sour. It was light and a little chalky. It might be too sour for most people. The flavor is good but the texture is unusual.

Available flavors: Plain, Blueberry, Strawberry Hibiscus, Vanilla

Ingredients (Vanilla): Oatmilk (water, whole oat flour), faba bean protein, organic cane sugar, strawberry puree, tapioca flour, coconut oil, concentrate (hibiscus and apple), strawberry natural flavor, hibiscus natural flavor, vegetable juice (color), agar, citric acid, live non-dairy yogurt cultures: S. Thermophilus, L. Bulgaricus.

3.5 out of 5 stars.

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

Looking for more frozen yogurt news, discussion boards, and resources? Check out the International Frozen Yogurt Association website at http://internationalfrozenyogurt.com/. The IFYA is the independent voice of the frozen yogurt industry.

Wednesday, February 13, 2019

Crown Couque D’Asse Strawberry Yogurt Biscuit Review



Fro-yo girl here. I’ve spotted Crown Couque D’Asse Strawberry Yogurt cookies at several supermarkets recently. It seems to be a new flavor from the Crown line of cookies. I bought a box at 99 Ranch Market in Arcadia, CA for $3.48 on sale (regular price $4.59). One box is 288g and contains 36 individually wrapped cookies. The cookies are imported from South Korea.

Couque D’Asse are delicate sandwich cookies. They’re rectangular and filled with a thin layer of cream. They’re so delicate that every cookie I unwrapped was slightly damaged. The langues de chat cookie is buttery and crisp, like an extra thin Pepperidge Farm Milano cookie. Crown’s version has a thin drizzle of chocolate across the top of each cookie. The creamy filling was very sweet with a mild strawberry flavor. It was difficult to taste any yogurt. The cookie was delicious but a tad sweet. It would be perfect with tea. They’re so pretty and delicate.

A serving of four cookies is 180 calories, 10g total fat, 12g sugars, and 20g total carbohydrates.

Ingredients: Wheat flour, strawberry yogurt, sugar, shortening (vegetable), egg white (liquid), milk fat preparation, decoration chocolate, coconut premix (coconut powder, brown sugar), imitation milk powder, overet (sorbitol solution, soybean oi, water, emulsifier, beeswax), blended edible oil (vegetable), emulsifier, salt, sodium bicarbonate, coconut flavor (artificial).

4 out of 5 stars.

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

Looking for more frozen yogurt news, discussion boards, and resources? Check out the International Frozen Yogurt Association website at http://internationalfrozenyogurt.com/. The IFYA is the independent voice of the frozen yogurt industry.

Friday, February 8, 2019

Pinkberry Closes in San Francisco


Fro-yo girl here. My state of shock continues. I’m still grieving over the closure of Pinkberry in Pasadena in 2015. Then they closed the wonderful Glendale/The Americana location last year. Last month, Pinkberry La Canada, which had become my regular Pinkberry, closed. Around that time, some time in January 2019, Pinkberry closed its sole San Francisco location, in front of Macy’s Union Square (170 O’Farrell St., San Francisco, CA).

This was their only location in SF. Yes, they have a location at SFO but the airport isn’t technically in San Francisco though the address is in San Francisco. I visited the Union Square location many times, since it was there when I lived in San Francisco. Tracy T. & I met there quite a few times. It was the most convenient location for me to visit. I remember being there for the grand opening in 2012. It was the first and last time I tried their lemon cookie crunch topping. When Pinkberry SF opened, it was the 200th location. RIP.

I noticed the Pinkberry SF Google Places listing says it's temporarily closed. Could it be true? I'm not too optimistic. Pinkberry locations keep closing. The Bay Area still has a few Pinkberry locations: Palo Alto, San Jose - Pueblo Plaza, Sunnyvale, and SFO.

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

Looking for more frozen yogurt news, discussion boards, and resources? Check out the International Frozen Yogurt Association website at http://internationalfrozenyogurt.com/. The IFYA is the independent voice of the frozen yogurt industry.

Thursday, February 7, 2019

New at Yogurtland Alhambra: Grab N Go Premium Upgrades



Fro-yo girl here. I’ve been going to Yogurtland Alhambra regularly, because they have peanut butter frozen yogurt. On a recent visit, I noticed a new sign that said Sweeten the Deal. Yogurtland Alhambra is now selling premium upgrades: cake pops, dipped giant marshmallows on a stick, rock sugar sticks, and cookies. The items are by the register and they’re pretty cute.

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

* YOGURTLAND ALHAMBRA: 1 E Valley Blvd., Alhambra, CA 91801

Looking for more frozen yogurt news, discussion boards, and resources? Check out the International Frozen Yogurt Association website at http://internationalfrozenyogurt.com/. The IFYA is the independent voice of the frozen yogurt industry.

Wednesday, February 6, 2019

National/International Frozen Yogurt Day 2019 Recap




Fro-yo girl here. Lots of frozen yogurt shops used to celebrate National Frozen Yogurt Day on different days in early February. But, lately everyone has been celebrating NFYD on February 6. This makes NFYD very hectic for me.

Stop #1: Menchie’s – For NFYD, Menchie's had a BOGO offer good all day and two new feature flavors: Cookies N Crème made with Hershey’s Cookies n Crème Bar and Oreo Peanut Butter Cookie made with Peanut Butter Oreo Cookies.

Oreo Peanut Butter Cookie froyo: This was a nice balance of chocolate and peanut butter flavors, with a creamy texture. Recommended toppings: Oreos, peanut butter sauce, chocolate chips, and peanuts.

Cookies N Crème froyo made with Hershey’s Cookies N Crème bar: This was a milder version of I Dream of Cookies & Cream. It had more crème and less chocolate. It’s mild enough to pair with most toppings. Recommended toppings: Andes Mints, chocolate chips, Oreos

I also received a BOGO coupon good between 2/7/19 – 2/28/2019.

Stop #2: Yogurtland – Yogurtland’s eighth IFYD celebration featured a BOGO free offer good from 2 PM – 7 PM today, two featured flavors, and two new toppings. There was no special cup or special spoon. No coupon was provided for a return visit.

Chocolate Toffee Bar froyo made with Heath Bar frozen yogurt – This was nice if you’re looking for a coffee toffee flavor that’s mild, sweet, and creamy. Recommended toppings: chocolate shell, almonds, Hershey’s® Cookies ’N’ Crème Popped Snack Mix.

Peanut Butter Cup froyo made with Hershey’s® Cocoa and Reese’s® Peanut Butter frozen yogurt – This flavor had a stronger peanut butter flavor than Menchie’s Oreo Peanut Butter Cookie froyo. You can still taste the chocolate though. Recommended toppings: Peanut butter sauce, peanut butter chips, Nutter Butter cookies.

The new toppings are so good! Hershey’s® Cookies ’N’ Crème Popped Snack Mix has tiny . Combining Hershey’s® Cookies ’N’ Crème Bars, mini chocolate cookies, mini pretzels, and chocolate-drizzled popcorn. It’s crunchy, sweet, creamy, with a lot going on. I also love how Reese’s Creamy Peanut Butter Chips adds more peanut butter flavor.

I thought about going to Pinkberry, but they didn’t have any NFYD signs, though they were offering BOGO free today.

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

Looking for more frozen yogurt news, discussion boards, and resources? Check out the International Frozen Yogurt Association website at http://internationalfrozenyogurt.com/. The IFYA is the independent voice of the frozen yogurt industry.

Tuesday, February 5, 2019

Now Testing at Yogurtland: Cone Creations






Fro-yo girl here. I was recently driving around in the OC (Orange County, CA) and I drove by a few Yogurtland locations. The Jeffrey location in Irvine, CA had quite a few test products – all variations of fancy cones that they’re calling Cone Creations. I’ve seen these fancy cones at some soft serve shops and a few froyo shops. They include:

* Cereal cones: These are cake cones. The tops are covered in a marshmallow and cereal mixture like Rice Krispie treats. Different types of cereal are used.

* Taiyaki: These fish shaped waffle cones are filled with froyo.

* Bubble waffles: Hong Kong style egg puffs look like bubble wrap. They are shaped into a cone shape. The frozen yogurt goes in the middle. Like the taiyaki, they require a special waffle iron. 




Meanwhile, the blendable shake that Yogurtland offers has been renamed Blendable Creations. It used to be called Custom Shakes. I spotted it at the Yogurtland in Fullerton, CA, their first location. I first tried it at the Yogurtland in Lakewood, CA.

* YOGURTLAND: 14775 Jeffrey Rd J, Irvine, CA 92618

* YOGURTLAND: 501 N State College Blvd, Fullerton, CA 92831


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

Looking for more frozen yogurt news, discussion boards, and resources? Check out the International Frozen Yogurt Association website at http://internationalfrozenyogurt.com/. The IFYA is the independent voice of the frozen yogurt industry.

Saturday, February 2, 2019

And Then There Were None: Pinkberry Closes in La Canada Flintridge, CA



Fro-yo girl here. I’m still in shock…first Penguin’s Frozen Yogurt closed last October after 30 years in business and now, Pinkberry has closed after 11 years in La Canada. It closed this week.

For some reason, they’ve already taken the exterior Pinkberry sign down. A hand-written sign taped to the door said closed, but provided no explanation.

Because this location was convenient, I visited often. But I was frustrated that the owner usually did not participate in Pinkberry promotions, even going so far as to not offer new flavors. The texture of the frozen yogurt had issues for quite some time, though it finally improved a bit. And it didn’t stay open late.

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

* PINKBERRY FROZEN YOGURT: 712 Foothill Blvd, La Canada, CA 91011

Looking for more frozen yogurt news, discussion boards, and resources? Check out the International Frozen Yogurt Association website at http://internationalfrozenyogurt.com/. The IFYA is the independent voice of the frozen yogurt industry.

Friday, February 1, 2019

Less Than a Week Until National/International Frozen Yogurt Day



Fro-yo girl here. If I had to choose my favorite day of the year, I’d have to pick either National/International Frozen Yogurt Day on Wednesday, February 6 or Halloween. NYFD/IFYD is such a joyful day – with free froyo and people enjoying froyo.

The big chains, Yogurtland and Menchie’s, are offering a buy one, get one free deal on Feb. 6. No coupon is necessary. The BOGO offer is good all day at Menchie’s and from 2 PM – 7 PM at Yogurtland. The Menchie’s poster for NYFD doesn’t mention any featured flavors, toppings, special cups, or special spoons. The Yogurtland poster shows two feature flavors: Peanut Butter Cup made with Hershey’s Cocoa & Reese’s Peanut Butter and Chocolate Toffee Bar made with Heath. There will also be two featured toppings: Reese's peanut butter chips, Hershey's Cookies 'N' Creme popped snack mix.

For updates of International/National Frozen Yogurt Day celebrations, check out the list from the International Frozen Yogurt Association: http://internationalfrozenyogurt.com/news/national-international-frozen-yogurt-day-2019/

I’ll share my pictures of my NYFD/IFYD froyo after it’s over. I wonder how much froyo I’ll be able to eat.

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

Looking for more frozen yogurt news, discussion boards, and resources? Check out the International Frozen Yogurt Association website at http://internationalfrozenyogurt.com/. The IFYA is the independent voice of the frozen yogurt industry.