la.foodblogging

So the fro-yo craze is still going strong in L.A. It seems like there is a Pinkberry, Red Mango, Ce Fiore, or a “Fakeberry” just about everywhere. I enjoy the occasional Pinkberry, but I never really jumped on board this trend… until now. I finally gave Red Mango a chance, and I am now a fan.

Red Mango differs from the other popular frozen yogurt places in one very important fact. It really is frozen yogurt. The U.S. Food & Drug Administration doesn’t appear to really have a definition for frozen yogurt, so the National Yogurt Association stepped in and developed its own Live & Active Cultures seal. The live and active cultures are what converts pasteurized milk to yogurt, and they are the source of the benefits to eating yogurt. For a frozen yogurt manufacturer to get the seal, there must be at least 10 million cultures per gram at the time the frozen yogurt is made. For a while, Red Mango was the only one of the popular chains that had the seal. It seems Pinkberry may have changed its recipe because about 2 months ago, it was also awarded the seal.

So why do I prefer Red Mango over Pinkberry? They offer similar toppings, such as mango, strawberry, coconut, granola, and various cereal. The difference is definitely in the frozen yogurt itself. Red Mango’s frozen yogurt is a little tarter than Pinkberry’s. It is also much creamier. In fact, it was creaminess of Red Mango’s frozen yogurt that actually made me a fan. While I enjoyed the strawberries, mangoes, and honey with my original flavored frozen yogurt, I think I could have eaten it without any toppings because the texture was close to ice cream. Pinkberry, on the other hand, makes frozen yogurt that is slightly gritty. There’s nothing wrong with that, but I much prefer the creamy texture. I am a bit embarrassed to admit this, but I will go ahead an confess that I like Red Mango so much that I actually joined its fanpage on facebook. In all fairness, I haven’t been to Pinkberry since their recipe changed, so I’m just making a comparison to my past experiences there. I hear from a couple friends that they don’t taste a difference between the old and new Pinkberry recipes. In fact, they weren’t even aware that Pinkberry has now been awarded with the National Yogurt Association seal. If any readers can taste a difference, please leave a comment about your thoughts on the current recipe. Of course, Red Mango fans are encouraged to comment.

Red Mango
Locations can be found on their website

By Pauline (see more of her posts).