Before ube was trendy, this Poway shop was swirling it
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That first bite feeling. Photo: Courtesy of Roland Lizarondo
Sandy Patag was making ube frozen yogurt long before the flavor was cool.
The big picture: Patag opened In the Mix Yogurt in Poway back in 2008 and immediately wanted to offer a taste of ube, the signature purple yams from the Philippines.
- But that ube flavoring — a secret mix Patag doesn't want to share — was hard to come by.
- So she experimented with different flavor combinations and finally found something that tasted right.
Initially, locals didn't know what it was — they were calling it "oobs," not "oo-bay," Patag told Axios.
Fast-forward to now, and ube is incredibly trendy.
- Artisan ice cream shops like An's Dry Cleaning and Stella Jean's offer ube tasting menus.
- Coffee shops, bakeries and beauty products have jumped on the purple-colored bandwagon.
The intrigue: Patag chose the name "In the Mix" because she wanted people to know they were welcome and could make their own self-serve creations however they liked.
- "It doesn't matter your age or race, your identity," she said.
How it works: Patag starts every day by cleaning the yogurt machines, which isn't easy.
- "You have to drain out all the old yogurt, and then you have to put fresh water in until the water's clear, and then you take the machine apart, clean all the pieces, and then you put it back together, and then you run a sanitizer through it," she said. "Once that is done, you can put fresh yogurt back in."
- Patag buys a yogurt base and then mixes it with flavors like ube, chocolate or mango.
- For cookie-flavored yogurt, she actually uses fresh cookies.
- She spends the rest of her time cutting fresh fruit, getting toppings ready and going to Costco.
She picks her yogurt base by attending yogurt conventions and doing taste tests.
💠Claire's thought bubble: Attending a yogurt convention is now my lifelong dream.
State of play: When frozen yogurt fell out of fashion and artisan ice cream was king in the 2010s, it actually helped Patag's business because other fro-yo shops in town closed.
- Now that fro-yo is trending up again, another shop has opened nearby.
Yes, but: After making fro-yo for 18 years, Patag still isn't sick of it because she can create a different combination every day.
- "Some days I would just want ube and coconut, or some days I just want vanilla with hot fudge and banana," she said.
Her current favorite is ube with coconut flakes, mochi balls and fresh mango pieces.
- How very on trend.
