Frogurt's Back with Pinkberry

When is "frozen heroin juice" a good thing?

Well, never, but lovers of Pinkberry frozen yogurt describe it in hallucinatorily addictive terms. "Crackberry" is another. And "I would get Pinkberry IV'ed into my veins if I could."

Photo credit: Cindy Yamanaka

Pinkberry is a small chain of frozen yogurt stands in Los Angeles and New York, started in 2005 by Hyekyung "Shelly" Hwang.

Katherine Nguyen writes on the Orange County Register's website about this Frogurt frenzy.

Pinkberry gets credit for introducing the treat from Korea – a swirl of plain-flavored frozen yogurt studded with simple fresh fruit and kiddie cereal toppings. It's touted as having half the calories of regular ice cream – about 25 calories an ounce or 125 calories for a 5 oz. serving.

At first bite, the sour and yogurty taste may provide a jarring contrast to the sweet and ice-cream-like frozen yogurt many might be accustomed to. You can eat it unadorned, but tropical bits of pineapple, mango and kiwi perfectly complement the tang of the plain yogurt, and additions like Fruity Pebbles and Cap'n Crunch can prove irresistible.

Deborah Netburn of the Los Angeles Times did a full write-up of Hwang last year in The taste that launched 1,000 parking tickets: Pinkberry addicts cramp the style of one neighborhood.

I would link to the Pinkberry website, but it requires a hideous navigation of javascript just to enter the site, so I absolutely refuse. Redo your website if you want traffic, Pinkberry.

There are other similar frozen yogurt outlets in Southern California. With luck this growth is a leading indicator of the fad weeping the rest of the country.