Gadget: Lakeland Electric Yoghurt Maker

I have a slight obsession with fromage frais. I have a small bucket of it on my muesli every morning – it has a certain luscious creaminess that is hard to beat. However, the 16 pots of it that arrive every week from Tesco have been identified as a luxury purchase that I could do without. The Lakeland Electric Yoghurt Maker promises to use a dribble of electricity to produce a litre of yoghurt at a fraction of the cost of normal stuff.

As you'd expect for twenty quid, this is not the most advanced of gadgets. It comprises of a removable bowl, inner lid, outer lid and a heated base that the bowl fits into. It would have been nice to have a built-in timer with auto-switch off. That said, making yoghurt was ridiculously easy. The first required ingredient is two teaspoons of natural live yoghurt – this acts a bit like yeast to get things started. My first effort used 1 pints of semi-skimmed milk.

The machine was set to work and eight hours later I had something resembling milky slime – it was frankly a bit minging. My next attempt used long-life UHT milk; the instructions recommend this or evaporated milk for the best results. Things were better this time; thicker, creamier and much more tasty. The holy grail of thicker 'luxury' yoghurt seems to be a live yoghurt starter, plus full fat UHT milk and a couple of tablespoons of skimmed milk powder.

All of this isn't as fiddly as it sounds, it just requires a bit of experimentation. While I never managed to replicate the delicacy that is Petits Filous, my quest continues and that's half the fun.

Things were better this time; thicker, creamier and much more tasty

• This article was first published in The Scotsman on September 25, 2010