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Hey, how hard can it be?” thought Rob Latton when he took on the task of developing frozen yoghurt. Answer: A lot harder than you think – especially sticking to the Piako philosophy of no artificial additives.

Rob, Piako’s part-owner, legal counsel and occasional delivery driver, spent four months experimenting in his home kitchen. A keen cook, he had an ice-cream churn, which was his main qualification for the job. Yoghurt has less fat than ice-cream and more water so it’s very hard to get a good frozen texture. Not so hard if you add stabilisers, emulsifiers and lots of E numbers, but that’s not their approach. “To get a nice creamy product that tasted great without adding the gunk, I eventually got there with fancy culturing techniques.” And he got there in fine form.

Not only were the judges impressed by the creaminess, but also that the yoghurt captures the tart and true flavours of the lime fruit. That’s a trick as well. It would be easier – and cheaper – to use reconstituted lime juice, but the fresh zest (and fresh juice) gives the yoghurt its zing. The task is done using an electric drill fitted with a fork. The fruit is impaled and a Microplane held against it as it spins. Handmade in small batches and packed manually, it all takes time. But it’s worth it. “It means we don’t need a lab or a chemist.” The lime zest flavour works really well with gooey desserts or Rob’s favourite – cajeta, a Mexican syrup like dulce de leche, which he makes from caramelised goat’s milk.