Your Homemade Frozen Yogurt Will Fail Without One Key Ingredient

Frozen yogurt is a warm-weather staple that is just as delightful as it is refreshing. Lighter than ice cream but still satisfyingly sweet, the chilly treat remains a go-to dessert for people of all ages, especially those who are looking for a healthier alternative to traditional ice cream. Though it's simple enough to grab a cup of the smooth and creamy from your local frozen yogurt bar, DIY-minded individuals might find it more pleasing to the palate and the wallet to make your own fro-yo at home.

There are several ways to hack your frozen yogurt to perfection; however, those clever methods are all for naught if, in the end, you're still struggling to scoop out a serving of the tasty treat. Without one essential ingredient, your frozen yogurt will turn into a solid block of icy sadness. The most important step when making homemade fro-yo might sound a bit counterintuitive, but to achieve the ideal consistency, you're going to need to add sugar.

If you've been under the illusion that achieving frozen yogurt perfection is as simple as popping a container of regular yogurt into your freezer, it's time to think again. While this method will technically yeild yogurt that is frozen, the delectable texture that you seek will be missing due to an important piece of food science.

Sugar helps to lower the freezing temperature of the substance that it's in, whether that's water, ice cream, or in our case, frozen yogurt. With a lower freezing temperature, ice crystals have a harder time forming within the yogurt. This ultimately serves up a creamy textured treat rather than an un-scoopable block.

And if the necessity of added sugar is a bummer, there's good news for the more health-conscious fro-yo lovers out there. If you're looking to reduce the amount of refined sugar in your diet, you can still achieve the delicious tastes and creamy textures in your frozen desserts by using a natural sweetener, like honey, instead of table sugar.