Hot Dish Review

TCBY does it the old-fashioned way, full of preservatives and sugar! Although the new breed of frozen yogurt stores claim to have live active cultures, implying that other brands do not, TCBY does, in fact, contain seven active probiotics in their product. Yoreka only lists two types of live cultures in their yogurt.

The main difference between TCBY and Yoreka is the taste. TCBY tastes more like soft-serve ice cream whereas the new brands (and there are many!) have that tangy yogurt flavor. TCBY has more sugar, about 18 grams in a 4 oz. serving, although the no sugar added flavors have only 6 grams (I guess from naturally occurring lactose). Yoreka has 18 grams of sugar in a 5 oz. serving.

With the additional sugar comes more calories…..about 30 per oz. for TCBY, 20 per oz. for Yoreka and similar brands.

My issue with Yoreka, Yogurberry, and the others is I don’t think the tanginess works as well with sweet toppings like chocolate chips or fruit. Personally I don’t like fruit toppings on my yogurt, always opting for dark chocolate chips and mixed nuts at TCBY. That is the combo in the photograph, on top of white chocolate mousse and coffee yogurt. It usually looks a lot prettier but there was a new guy at the TCBY who clearly doesn’t care about aesthetics.

Last year TCBY began using environmentally friendly insulated paper containers rather than styrofoam. Problem with that is the yogurt melts quickly, turning into a soupy mess. Can’t they just recycle?

The lower calorie count and some intriguing toppings like mochi continue to lure me to the new-fangled yogurt chains on occassion, but my loyalty still lies with good old-fashioned TCBY!