Japanese Hot Yogurt & Drinkable Soft Serve

Fro-yo girl here. Woodberrys, the beloved Tokyo froyo shop that specializes in seasonal fruits and made to order froyo, recently started offering hot yogurt. I saw the announcement and immediately wondered, what is hot yogurt? I had to find out.

Hot yogurt was born on September 30, 2013, the launch date of Yakult’s bottled hot yogurt drink called Hot Miruju. Hot Mijuru contains calcium and probiotics (live bacteria). Interestingly, I can’t find recent information about it, so either it was discontinued or the name was changed. There’s very little information online about hot yogurt. Hot yogurt seems to be popular only in Japan and it’s popular for health reasons.

I found a simple recipe for hot yogurt on Slism. According to Slism, “Where hot yogurt differs from cold yogurt is the wonder it does for your digestive system. Cold yogurt cools down your body affecting the inner working of your digestive system such that your body has a hard time absorbing essential nutrients such as calcium. On the other hand, hot yogurt has the effect of increase nutrient absorption of calcium in your body that in effect impedes parathormone hormones from being release by your body making you gain pounds weight in fat.”

Japanese convenience store, MINI STOP, just introduced two new hot chocolate drinks made with soft serve ice cream base, Belgian Chocolate and Hot Milk Soft Cream. They sound delicious and they’re available 24 hours a day.

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.

Café More Yogurt Ade Review

Fro-yo girl here. I found a new yogurt product on a recent shopping trip to Hmart in Arcadia, CA. Hmart had quite a few refrigerated pouch drinks. Most were coffee flavored, but there was a yogurt one called Yogurt Ade. Yogurt Ade is imported from Korea. One pouch was $1.29. A pouch is 7.77 fl oz, 130 calories and 29g of sugar. Whoa.

The pouch has the image of a giant yogurt bottle that reminds me of Yakult. What is it with Asians and Yakult? I don’t like Yakult at all. It’s too sweet and doesn’t really taste like yogurt.

Yogurt Ade: The beverage smells like Yakult. It’s milky and a pale peach color. It’s non-carbonated. Not surprisingly, it tastes like Yakult. It’s way too sweet to be refreshing. Ugh. I could not finish this drink.

Ingredients: Water, high fructose corn syrup, sugar, lactic acid culture base, milk powder, citric acid, mixed formulation (carboxymethyl, cellulose, glycerin fatty acid ester, gellan gum, dextrin), artificial flavor (yogurt), trisodium citrirate, vitamin C, sucralose.

2 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.

Yogurt in Japan

Fro-yo girl here. I recently visited Japan. Frozen yogurt is hard to find there, but yogurt is easier to find. Since I was busy eating soft cream, I wasn’t able to consume too much yogurt, but I did try a few yogurt products. I also spotted the yogurt shelf at a Japanese supermarket. Most of the brand names were in Japanese but I recognized a few brands: Morinaga, Dannon/Danone, and Meiji. The yogurt typically comes in small individual cups, to be eaten as snacks. It’s rare for Japanese to use yogurt in cooking. I didn’t see skyr or non-dairy yogurt. City-cost describes some of the leading Japanese yogurt brands.

Yakult, the fermented milk drink, was developed by Japanese scientist Dr. Minoru Shirota. The first bottle of Yakult was produced in 1935. Yakult claims to have billions of live and active bacteria of an exclusive probiotic strain, Lactobacillus casei Shirota.

The market leader in the Japanese yogurt market is a product called Meiji Bulgaria Yogurt. Meiji launched Japan’s first plain yogurt in 1971. They obtained naming rights from Bulgaria and released Meiji Bulgaria Yogurt in 1973. It took some time for the Japanese consumers to accept Meiji Bulgaria Yogurt, but they were won over by health benefit claims and the positioning as authentically Bulgarian. The company imported yogurt starter cultures from Bulgaria.

One tub of yogurt that I had in Japan had a Yakult like flavor. I also had a yogurt that tasted like plain yogurt. It wasn’t as thick as Greek yogurt but it wasn’t sweetened or Yakult like. The best yogurt product that I found was a thick yogurt drink from Azumino Winery in Nagano Prefecture. It’s made with raw milk from Azumino cows.

Yogurt art is also increasing in popularity in Japan. Japanese use plain yogurt “as a canvas to create pictures with fruits and sauces.” I’ve seen examples on Instagram. 

I visited Mitsuwa in San Gabriel, CA and they didn’t have any imported Japanese yogurt. The only yogurt brands they carried were Beijing Yogurt and Alove.

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.

Meiji Yogurt Caramel Review

Fro-yo girl here. Meiji Yogurt Caramels are worth looking for. They’re one of the few yogurt candies that actually taste good. A 2.5 oz box of individually wrapped caramels is $1.89 at Nijiya Market.







The caramel is square and slightly smaller than a Starburst. The caramel is firm and chewy like taffy. It doesn’t taste like your typical caramel (sugar that’s been caramelized). It tastes like a yogurt drink like Yakult but not as tangy and not as sweet. The flavor is more mild and milky. Delicious. Love the texture, the flavor and even packaging. I’m going to stock up on these.

Ingredients: starch, syrup, sugar, condensed milk powder, vegetable oil, yogurt powder, wheat flour

5 out of 5 stars.

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

* NIJIYA MARKET: 1737 Post St #333, San Francisco, CA

Yogurt Candy Review: Chelsea Yogurt Scotch

Fro-yo girl here. Chelsea Yogurt Scotch is a Japanese candy from Meiji. Ten individually wrapped hard rectangular candies come in each package ($1.49 at Nijiya Market). The candy takes quite some time to dissolve in one's mouth (reminds me of those hard sour fruit balls I used to like) and Life Savers. The candy has a tangy yogurt flavor reminiscent of Yakult. It's quite sweet and a little bit milky.



I like Yogurfrul better but then I prefer chewy candy. If Life Savers came out with yogurt flavors, I would definitely try it.

You can buy Yogurt Scotch online on koamart.

4 out of 5 stars.

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

* NIJIYA MARKET:1737 Post St #333, San Francisco, CA

Yakult Love Your Insides Campaign

Fro-yo girl here. I keep seeing the Yakult commercials featuring the cuddly digestive system character. Isn't he cute? I'm not sure where I can buy one of my own. I thought I Heart Guts might have a digestive system character - guess Stomach is their closest offering. He's a cousin of the Yakult digestive system character but he doesn't have hands.



Happy 75th anniversary, Yakult!

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

I'm Giving Up on Bottled Yogurt Drinks

Fro-yo girl here. I gave up on the Yakult type yogurt drinks a few months ago. They were all too sugary for me and I didn't like the flavor much. I'm seeing more bottled yogurt smoothies at the supermarket but I haven't been too interested in trying them. But then Trader Joe's introduced Organic lowfat Wildberry probiotic yogurt smoothies (love TJ's) so I bought a four pack. The smoothie wasn't bad - it had a tangy, real yogurt quality, it wasn't too thick...but I felt like I was drinking melted fro-yo. I probably wouldn't buy them again.



And I'm not buying Yoplait's new frozen smoothie in a bag - but it is interesting how it includes little frozen yogurt cubes.



I spotted a "baked style yogurt drink" at the market the other day. Baked yogurt? Sounded different enough to catch my interest. Baking doesn't kill the live cultures. They also had many mysterious varieties of kefir, including Krestiansky, Ryazhenka, Bazarny and Weijski. But these drinks were all full fat and are probably too rich for me.

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

Yogurt Drinks: Yakult Review

Fro-yo girl here. Yakult the original yogurt drink has been available in Japan since 1935. In terms of taste, it’s lighter and sweeter than DanActive but not as sweet and watery as Yogu Time. Yakult is a bit sour, slightly citrusy, with a sweet aftertaste. It’s a bit too sweet to be refreshing but they claim that with daily consumption, it will help your digestive system.

Details: 2.7 ounces per drink, comes in a pack of five, plastic bottle, $2.99

Ingredients: water, sugar, skim milk powder, glucose, natural and artificial flavors, lactobacillus casei shirota

Tagline: “Cultured Drink with Dairy”

3 stars (out of 5)

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