We learned about Red Mango while staying with Paul's family in California last week. Actually, we had the inside scoop because Paul's cousin, Alison, worked there over the summer. She supplied us with a sample, and we went acquired our own before we left.

Red Mango, the chain frozen yogurt stand focused on pretty smoothies and parfaits originated in South Korea and has grown significantly. It even has a shop in my home town, Baton Rouge, where we were the last people I knew to get an Olive Garden!

Red Mango is special because it is gluten-free, kosher, and uses PureVia as a sweetener. I also suspect judging by my white Key Lime that no artificial colors are used. We loved Red Mango because of the fresh and unusual toppings--raspberries, mangos, blackberries, pineapple, strawberries (which Alison said they had to cut up every morning). There's also sprinkles and M&Ms for the non-health-nuts. The service was speedy, and they were very nice. (And no, we didn't go in with Alison or tell them we were related to her.)

Our group of 5 (me, Paul, mom-in-law, dad-in-law, dad-in-law's first cousin) concluded that the yogurt is quite impressive. Definitely not what you expect. The Original flavor really tastes like plain yogurt, but smoother than it would be if you froze it at home. The Pomegranate is very light in flavor while the Key Lime Pie tasted heavier, like a key lime pie would. Ironically, though, we all seemed to prefer the yogurts best with some form of topping. An entire key lime would have been way too rich without the more tart strawberries offsetting it. And the pomegranate/original swirl had too much of the "plain" taste that I'm needing to acquire a taste for. It improved with a variety of berries. I very much would have liked to try the vanilla, but alas, the waist-line can only take so much.

Thank you, Alison, for introducing us to Red Mango. Have a great freshman year in San Diego!