Fraiche Yogurt

While I was traveling in Korea, I made a point of trying out Red Mango which is a frozen yogurt chain. I hear there's a similar chain in the U.S. called Pinkberry and the two franchises are duking it out in the States. I really enjoyed Red Mango because it's not as sweet as regular American fro yo. Imagine my delight when I discovered a new yogurt store in downtown Palo Alto called Fraiche Yogurt. A coworker forwarded me an excerpt of an email describing the product written by the owner:

FRAICHE is a homemade organic fresh yogurt and frozen yogurt cafe located in downtown Palo Alto (644 Emerson, same block as Gordon Biersch). We make our yogurt on-site in our mini-dairy plant. We believe in the goodness of pure, simple food. Our yogurt is made with Clover organic milk --we do not use additives, preservatives, colorings, gelatins or even sugar.

If you've never had homemade yogurt, you're in for a treat. It's quite different than what you might find at the grocery store or at a typical frozen yogurt place. Jessica, my business partner, and I even had to pass an exam to become licensed pasteurizers.

Our offering includes:

• Organic fresh yogurt (whole milk, low fat, and non-fat plain) and
• Organic frozen yogurt in natural, chocolate and soy flavors
• A full toppings bar with your choice of fresh strawberries, blueberries, mango, kiwi, almonds, toasted coconut, honeys, granola, etc.
• Organic Blue Bottle coffee (yes, we're the first to bring this awesome brew down to the peninsula!)

I went to try Fraiche's fresh yogurt but there wasn't any available since the store had recently opened and they were using all the fresh yogurt to make frozen yogurt. I ordered a cup with two toppings: mango and strawberries. It was DELICIOUS! Unfortunately, it's a little pricey, probably because of the exorbitant rental prices in downtown Palo Alto. Fortunately, another reviewer on Yelp.com pointed out that there's a similar (and cheaper) store in San Carlos called Harmony Frozen Yogurt. That will be on my to do list this weekend and I'll be sure to drag D a long!