21 Choices Frozen Yogurt Crunchy Choices

Fro-yo girl here. When 21 Choices reopened in its new spot on the corner of Fair Oaks and Union, they added vertical batch freezers. These freezers allowed them to offer something new, Crunchy Choices. Basically, it’s like their regular soft serve frozen yogurt, but with bigger pieces of toppings, e.g., brownies, cake, marshmallows, chocolate chips – that is, the froyo is crunchier. I finally tried Crunchy Choices. It’s scooped out of the batch freezer but has a similar consistency to the soft serve with more texture because of the toppings. You can also have them add mix-ins on the marble slab.

Crunchy Choices of the day:

Nutella Caramel Brownie made with Nutella, Guittard caramel, house made brownies & Guittard chocolate chips

Fluffy Peanut Butter made with organic soy milk, natural peanut butter, marshmallows & Guittard chocolate chips. I could see the marshmallows and the chocolate chips. The yogurt had a fluffy, whipped texture which was pleasant. It tasted like peanut butter, so I liked it, but I think the marshmallows made it too sweet.

Crunchy Choices are good choices. They’re as good as the soft serve.

Prices: Small $4.25/ Medium $5.25/ Large $6.25

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

* 21 CHOICES: 44 N Fair Oaks Ave., Pasadena, CA 91105

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.

SWRLIES, A New Froyo Pop-up in Los Angeles

Fro-yo girl here. SWRLIES just started their froyo pop-up this month in Los Angeles. They’ve popped up in Eagle Rock and Highland Park so far. They set up a trailer with a freezer filled with frozen fruit and frozen yogurt bars, a hand-churned machine that blends them together, and some toppings and sauces.

They call their frozen yogurt Jalisco style. It’s all-natural frozen yogurt (they made their own yogurt base and formed it into blocks; I was told the yogurt was not sweetened) blended to order with your choice of fruit. Choose your size (Small, $4.25 or Large, $5.00), your fruit (you can pick more than one kind), and your toppings and sauces. They use organic frozen fruit. If you’d like a sweeter treat, they can add sugar or Splenda before blending or you can choose a sweet sauce. The price includes toppings and sauces.

* Frozen yogurt blended with strawberry, raspberry, and blueberry topped with mixed nuts and granola ($4.25): The frozen fruit made the yogurt icy but it also gave it a thicker texture (seeds, skins) and flavor. Since it was freshly churned, the texture was softer. It’s a simple treat that tastes natural and healthy. However, I’ve made better froyo at home. If they used a higher fat yogurt, maybe the texture would be creamier? It’s less creamy than Yogen Fruz, Loving Cup and the other mix-in froyo places that I’ve tried.

I was curious about Jalisco style frozen yogurt. I looked at places serving frozen yogurt in Guadalajara, the largest city in Jalisco, Mexico. There were shops that serve soft serve frozen yogurt dispensed from soft serve machines (some were self-serve, some weren’t) and the mix-in style frozen yogurt. Interestingly, there were multiple Yogen Fruz locations in the area.

You can find Swrlies by following them on Instagram, @swrlies.

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

* SWRLIES FROYO: 4956 York Blvd, Los Angeles (Highland Park), CA 90042

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.

Goodbye Jamba Juice Whirl’ns

Fro-yo girl here. I realized I hadn’t had a mix-in style frozen yogurt recently so I dropped by Jamba Juice to see what was new with their frozen yogurt line, Whirl’ns, powered by Yogen Fruz. Whirl’ns were made to order with fresh fruit and other ingredients including your choice of frozen yogurt base. My Jamba Juice location no longer offered Whirl’ns. I called a few other Jamba locations and learned that they’ve made the decision to quietly phase out Whirl’ns.

Whirl’ns was introduced Whirl’ns in Northern California in December 2010 and expanded to additional locations in 2011. They had a few seasonal flavors like Great Pumpkin and Wildly Watermelon.

Whirl’ns is still available at some locations but probably not for that much longer.

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.

Jamba Juice Whirl'ns Frozen Yogurt

Fro-yo girl here. I finally tried Whirl'ns, the frozen yogurt line Jamba Juice started testing in the Sacramento region in December 2010. They expanded the offering to SoCal next and recently started offering it in the Bay Area. You can find locations that carry Whirl'ns by visiting the Jamba Juice website. Note, no SF Jamba locations carry Whirl'ns. The closest location to SF with Whirl'ns is the remodeled Westlake location in Daly City. They just reopened today.

Whirl'ns offers custom mixed flavors (Blueberry Pomegranate Peaks, Swirly Strawberry Vanilla, Minty Chocolate Chip, Magnificent Mango Pineapple, Jazzy Java Chocolate, Awesome Apple Cinnamon) or plain (tart, vanilla or chocolate). The mixed flavors feature lowfat vanilla, lowfat chocolate or non-fat tart fro-yo.

I tried the blueberry pomegranate flavor since it is made with the tart base. The fro-yo is mixed in a machine. It's similar to Yogen Fruz but YF has a more flavorful yogurt base. The fro-yo is thick and very creamy without having that nice refreshing edge that some tart fro-yo has. It's sweet and tangy but not very tangy. Frozen blueberry pieces added texture. The taste reminds me of a firmer version of a Jamba Juice smoothie. I prefer Yogen Fruz for mix-in fro-yo but think Whirl'ns is decent.


Prices: Small $3.50, Medium $4.75, includes one topping. The toppings include granola, coconut, brown sugar, chocolate, almonds and bananas.

They currently have a seasonal flavor that I'm excited about Great Pumpkin Swirl and there were $1 off coupons at the store (good for any Whirl'ns fro-yo).

* JAMBA JUICE: 340 Westlake Center, Daly City, CA

Yogen Früz Offers A Healthy New Way to Enjoy Custom Blended Frozen Yogurt

From Yogen Früz: Good news! Just in time for the end of summer, Yogen Früz (www.yogenfruz.com) – an all natural frozen yogurt that can be found in 20 countries with over 1,100 stores- has opened their first location in San Jose. The store is located at Westfield Oakridge Mall (925 Blossom Hill Road, Ste 1379, San Jose).

Yogen Früz is a healthy alternative to the summer treats and is uber healthy frozen yogurt with probiotics and 0% fat. Yogen Früz leaves the fun to the customer who can custom blend their yogurt with their favorite fruit, then pile on the toppings!
Yogen Früz, a healthy custom blended frozen yogurt, has become one of the world’s most popular frozen yogurts. Available in low-fat vanilla, low-fat chocolate, non-fat vanilla and non-fat no sugar added vanilla, Yogen Früz’s healthy frozen yogurt contains probiotic cultures and 0% fat, which can be blended with a large selection of fresh fruits to satisfy any palate. With a splash of berry, burst of melon and the new Matcha Green Tea + lychee flavor, Yogen Früz can be custom blended into a cup and topped with fruit and sweet crunchy treats or blended into a nutritious fat-free, ice-free dairy or non-dairy smoothie.

Whether someone wants to change their lifestyle and become a healthier individual or just enjoy a tasty frozen dessert or smoothie, Yogen Früz’s active ingredient, probiotic cultures, are an excellent source of protein and calcium thought to boost immune function, help manage lactose intolerance and maintain a healthy digestive system. With added probiotics and several choices of fresh fruit toppings and blends, Yogen Früz offers more than just a delicious treat; each bite provides the body with essential vitamins to help maintain a healthy lifestyle. With its assortment of probiotic frozen yogurt and dairy and non-dairy custom blended smoothies, Yogen Früz provides consumers with not only great tasting flavors but healthy alternatives to other frozen yogurt chains.

Founded in 1986 by brothers Aaron and Michael Serruya in Toronto, Canada, Yogen Früz has become the world’s leading frozen yogurt conglomerate with over 1,100 locations operating in 20 countries around the globe. The dynamic duo decided that Yogen Früz was more than just a frozen yogurt. It was all about the ü - a lifestyle that focuses on being healthy, loving yourself and enjoying life. The concept was to create a great tasting, yet healthy experience for consumers and provide an easier way for people to lead healthy and active lifestyles. Today, Yogen Früz has become a leader in the industry and is one of the fastest growing frozen yogurt companies in the world with 400 new store commitments in the last year alone and eight consecutive years of same store sales increases.

In United States, Yogen Früz can be found in Southern California, Miami, Virginia, San Francisco, Chicago and upstate New York.

For more information please visit: www.yogenfruz.com

Fro-yo girl’s comment: Well, the matcha green tea + lychee flavor does sound intriguing. I’m still amazed by how many locations they have. Yay for Canada.

Jennifer Aniston Eats More Fro-yo Than I Do

Fro-yo girl here. According to the May 11th issue of Us Weekly, Jen is currently in NYC filming The Baster. She “has been sending her assistant via taxi to pick up six to ten sugar-free vanilla frozen yogurts, each with three almonds, twice a week from Eskimix.”

She must store them in her freezer? That’s up to 20 cups of fro-yo a week or fro-yo for just about every meal – unless she uses it for breakfast, dessert and a snack. It’s hard not to like someone who eats that much fro-yo. Perhaps she’ll become the Eskimix spokesperson?

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

* ESKIMIX: 318 Bleecker St., New York, NY

Mix-In Fro-Yo

Fro-yo girl here. Though uncommon, some fro-yo shops have a special mixing machine that creates mix-in fro-yo. Think Dairy Queen Blizzard only with plain fro-yo instead of ice cream and frozen fruit instead of candy bits. The mixing machine is considerably cheaper than the soft serve machines most fro-yo shops have and the mix in method results in a different texture and taste. Using frozen fruit adds a pleasant icy quality to the thicker, chunkier and softer mix-in yogurt while using whole fruit can also add texture (e.g., seeds, larger pieces of fruit).

These are the four places to get mix-in fro-yo in the Bay Area:

Poco Café: 1688 Hostetter Rd, San Jose, CA
My favorite mix-in fro-yo and also the best value, choose from a wide variety of fruit flavors. The end result is chunkier than other places. Some of the plain frozen yogurt base didn’t get mixed in with the fruit but I think that added to the homemade charm.

Yogen Fruz: 3 Embarcadero Center, San Francisco, CA
Called Blend It, you get to select up to two types of frozen fruit and the base (non-fat vanilla, low-fat vanilla, non-fat/sugar-free vanilla or chocolate). It’s the smoothest of the mix-in fro-yos with a more pronounced flavor of the base yogurt. It’s the only place that provides multiple choices for the yogurt base.

Tartini: 20488 Stevens Creek Blvd, Cupertino, CA
Tartini Twister has a creamy vanilla fro-yo base and comes with your choice of frozen fruit.

Sweet Retreat: 6061 Cahalan Ave, San Jose, CA (and other locations in San Jose, Morgan Hill and Los Gatos)
The mix in yogurt is called the “create your own yogurt” option. It starts with their plain fro-yo base. Unlike the other shops, you can add candy and/or frozen fruit to the mix-in yogurt.

Note, Penguino’s in the Metreon (SF) also has a create your own flavor, mix-in fro-yo. I refuse to try it though, because their soft-serve fro-yo is horrible.

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