Trader Joe's Plain Frozen Yogurt

We were walking by the aisles of Trader Joe's, and noticed this. Hmm....what is it? Plain frozen yogurt which according to the package has a "pleasant" tang and is not too sweet or sour. And the cost? About a medium size Pinkberry without the toppings, which is about 3.50. Or, you could say 11 cents per ounce.

Pretty good pricing! As you see here, it is a quarts worth of frozen yogurt. Which translates to 32 fluid ounces. If you were at a Yogurtland, that same amount of yogurt would cost: $9.60. And if you were at Cherry on Top with the buy 10 ounce get 10 ounce free coupon, the same amount would cost $8.58.

It seems like this product was made to lure the people who:
1. Like the frozen yogurt trend and like the light tang of the soft serve fro-yo at places like Pinkberry
2. People who like the frozen yogurt trend, but don't like soft serve
3. People who want their plain yogurt in a frozen form that isn't sweet

After about 15 minutes from the store, we opened the delightful package of frozen yogurt, and found it ROCK solid. Could it be because Trader Joe's freezers are just so cold? Anyway, we were able to scoop it. With a lot of effort, that is.

Plain!


With a strawberry, blueberries, and a drizzle of honey.

Then, we took photos and decorated the yogurt with some frozen fruit (some blueberries and strawberries) and a bit of honey, which took about 3 minutes. And it was still hard! No melting occurred yet still! And the honey got frozen so it was really like candy.

It was only about another 5 minutes from that when the yogurt started to get not as stiff. And, to make it more "soft serve", we stirred the frozen yogurt for about 10 times around the bowl so it kind of looked like a very thick frosting. At this stage, the yogurt would have a firm peak to it too.

How was the taste? Well, in the hard stage, the frozen yogurt had a good tang which was not too tangy, but not too sweet. It also had a nice creaminess. And in the "soft serve" stage, you could taste even more creaminess and the full flavors of the yogurt could be tasted very well.

Overall? A good product, but just a tad bit too thick and creamy. If you are going to buy the product, remember to let it sit out of the freezer for some time or else you are going to have some trouble scooping! Also, being not soft serve in the beginning, the texture of the yogurt and the denseness is also heavier than soft serve.

-EDIT Feb. 11, 2009: After putting it in the freezer for more than 24 hours, the frozen yogurt was not ultra hard anymore like it used to be. It was just like scooping regular ice cream, but slightly harder.

-Mini celebration. This is the 50th post on this blog! Including the indexes :).


Who else tried this product?
Two Boos who Eat said this product tasted like Pinkberry but better!

Don't have a Trader Joe's nearby? Well, Fresh & Easy has a very similar (could be the same) version, my review can be reached HERE.


And 15 seconds of fame:
WBUR 90.9 Public Radio Kitchen in Boston says this review is "great" as part of their Tuesday Tidbits.