It’s raining frozen yoghurt bars in Melbourne!
They’re all trying to win us over with various nutrition claims… fat free, gluten free, sugar free, dairy free*, vegan. If only as much was said about what is in our beloved fro yo than what isn’t.
‘Fat free’ can mean full of sugar, while ‘dairy free’ doesn’t necessarily mean better for you. Transparency is king where the fro yo is concerned – if the ingredients list isn’t readily available in store, you have every reason to be suspicious.
I love the occasional frozen yoghurt, so I’ve scoured the streets of Melbourne with my detective hat on in search of the healthiest options and found three places that came up trumps. Not surprisingly, the healthier options also tasted the best. While this might not be a free ticket to eat as many frozen yoghurts as you like, it’s important to know that some fro yos are created more equal than others.
Ilya
All frozen yoghurts at Ilya are made onsite using fresh organic milk and yoghurt, and fresh seasonal produce. All six dairy options are free from processed sugar and there are vegan options too. The team at Ilya are always tweaking their recipes to make their products as healthy as possible, and nutritional cards for each product are available in store. What’s more, a portion of every frozen yoghurt sold at Ilya goes towards the World Food Program’s “Fill a Cup to fill a cup” initiative, through which the team at Ilya aims to feed 10,000 children in Africa.
277 Glenhuntly Road
Elsternwick
03 9077 1080
Skinny Dippa
Much like the folks at Ilya, corporate escapee Warren (from Skinny Dippa) is always tinkering with his yoghurt recipes to make them as healthy as he can, reducing the sugar content and offering flavours that use stevia (a natural sweetener) as the primary sweetener, and non-dairy options too, all while still ensuring his products taste heavenly. Warren changes his recipes so often to make it possible to keep his ingredients cards up to date (sounds a bit like the nutty professor, doesn’t he?) but the nutrition and ingredients information are always available upon request in store.
121 Chapel Street
Windsor
03 9510 5858
Frozen by a Thousand Blessings
With fro yos made using Biodynamic (a step above organic) milk and yoghurt, and fresh, local ingredients, Frozen offers fro yos natural and green tea flavours with stevia instead of sugar, and soy and almond milk options for those avoiding dairy, and ingredients cards nutrition information available in store.
390 Bridge Road Richmond
657 Chapel Street South Yarra
Shop 202 Doncaster Shopping Town
Level 2 Melbourne Central
After you’ve chosen your flavour and filled your cup (yep, all these places are self serve) comes the fun part – the toppings. Ilya, Frozen and Skinnny Dipper all offer healthy toppings like chia seeds, blueberries, goji berries and almond flakes, the indulgent options can be hard to resist though.
Go on, have your fro yo and eat it too!
*Note: non-dairy options do contain sugar, because they need it in order to freeze without the dairy.
Photos supplied by Bec Hudson for use in this post.
