Fresh fruit, filtered water and a pinch of sugar. Photo courtesy The Soft Serve Fruit Co.

Made with fresh fruit, filtered water and a small amount of organic cane sugar, Soft Serve Fruit is a healthier alternative to soft-serve (or conventional) ice cream or frozen yogurt.

Summer flavors include banana, mango, pear and strawberry. Apple, cranberry and pumpkin will appear in the fall. Soft Serve Fruit is available with or without toppings and in shakes.

Think of Soft Serve Fruit as a very low-sugar, soft-serve sorbet. If you have a sweet tooth, you’ll probably prefer conventional sorbet. If you want a frozen dessert with less sugar, go for Soft Serve Fruit.

The store was packed with health-oriented moms and their pre-school and grade-school kids. The kids were very happy.

There’s only one hitch:

There are only three retail outlets: one in Manhattan and two in The Hamptons. The company plans to expand and to franchise. Learn more at SoftServeFruitCo.com.

But there is a solution:

The Yonanas frozen dessert maker, “As Seen On TV.” Frozen fruit goes in, soft-serve fruit comes out.

We actually saw the Yonanas machine at a recent healthy food press event and met the inventors. However, no samples were available for tasting.

But a friend who bought a Yonanas machine after seeing the infomercial says the machine actually does produce something similar to Soft Serve Fruit. (She said it took three bananas to make one large serving. She hasn’t tried other fruits because she doesn’t like most fruits—and in fact ordered only the banana flavor at The Soft Serve Fruit Co.) We’re on a waiting list to try her machine.

The infomercial producers have convinced the inventors to claim that the Yonanas machine is a “$150 value for $49.95.” Don’t believe it.

You can get an ice cream maker from Cuisinart and Hamilton Beach for $49.95, which includes recipes and the versatility to make ice cream, frozen yogurt and sorbet. So there’s no justification for the Yonanas claim of a $150 value (unless that’s how they value the inexpensive plastic storage container that is thrown in). It’s a little plastic machine—you can see it at GetYonanas.com.

You don’t even need a separate machine. Just throw frozen fruit into your blender or food processor, the way the Yonanas inventors likely began. Depending on your food religion, you may wish to add a bit of sugar, agave nectar or noncaloric sweetener.