Local Yogurt – Gluten Free Fro-Yo Heaven

I recently made a trip out to a new dessert spot called Local Yogurt. We visited the North Raleigh location at 6106 Falls of Neuse Road. Local Yogurt got its start in Durham as the city's first independently owned frozen yogurt shop. In addition to being a locally owned business, the shop features toppings from area farms and vendors (more on that in minute) – thus the name Local Yogurt.

The shop currently offers four flavors of yogurt; original, lemon, chocolate and peanut butter. The frozen yogurt contains no artificial flavors, colors or preservatives, and is processed in accordance with U.S. Public Health Service Grade A pasteurization standards. In addition, the yogurt is certified Gluten Free by the GFCO which is awesome. They have the logo on their Web site and on signage in the store as a helpful reminder that the yogurt is safe for consumption by Celiacs and those eating Gluten Free.

Now for toppings… there is pretty much your pick of anything you can imagine. Candy, fresh seasonal fruit and much more. I was really pleasantly surprised when I saw a bag of Custom Choice Cereal granola as a topping choice. Another excellent local company who caters specifically to those who love cereal – Gluten Free style. For more on Custom Choice Cereal – please click here.

So what did I order? I went for the original yogurt topped with fresh blueberries and some Custom Choice Cereal granola. It was very yummy. I do want to point out that the original (hate to call it plain) yogurt was sort of tart. If you are a big plain yogurt fan, then jump right in, but if you like things a little sweeter, you may want to try the other flavors like chocolate or peanut butter (or mix the two). The choices and possibilities are endless really. Just as an FYI – there are some topping choices that are not Gluten Free. The store is not 100% Gluten Free. Be sure to ask the server and use your best judgment when ordering the toppings. You certainly cannot go wrong with fresh fruit and some Custom Choice Cereal.

More on ingredients

"Plain" low fat frozen yogurt contains: Yogurt cultured Grade A milk, sugar syrup, yogurt cultured nonfat milk, corn syrup, sodium citrate, mono diglycerides, carbohydrate gum, locust bean gum, polysorbate 80, guar gum, and diocityl sodium sulfosuccinates. (Contains active yogurt cultures.)

All natural base ingredients (for "flavored" frozen yogurt): Grade A nonfat milk, sugar syrup, corn syrup, yogurt cultured nonfat milk, milk, whey protein concentrate, egg yolks, guar gum, carob bean gum, carrageenin. (Contains active yogurt cultures.)

"Flavored" All natural frozen yogurt contains one or more of the following: Fruit juice concentrate, natural flavor, cocoa, vanilla extract, peanut butter, citric acid, malic acid, fruit extracts (for color), beet extract (for color), and/or annatto extract (for color).

NOTE: Ingredients listed above represent all flavored frozen yogurt and are not specific to one flavor.

Special Deals & Twitter/Facebook

If you visit the Flavors & Toppings page on their Web site, you'll find a current rotating list of flavors along with special deals offered. For example, if you visited on the 9-30 and were wearing scrubs or had a medical ID, you would have received $1 off your order. Sometimes it's a high school or college ID. You can also follow Local Yogurt on Twitter using @LoYoRaleigh to get all the latest news and specials. Check out their Facebook page here.

Information

Local Yogurt currently operates two stores in addition to the N.Ral location – one in Durham @ 2501 University Drive and another in Greenville @ 2205 W. Arlington Blvd.

Web site: http://www.localyogurt.com

North Raleigh phone number -> 876-1118

Hours of Operation

Monday-Thursday 11:00am - 10:00pm

Friday and Saturday 11:00am - 11:00pm

Sunday 12:00 - 9:00pm