The Great British Cream Tea, there’s nothing more wonderfully summery - with
the possible exception of Pims and lemonade, strawberries and cream, Flake 99’s,
crust-less cucumber sandwiches and gin and tonic (what a perfect shopping list
for a summer garden party!)
For those of you unfamiliar with the tradition, here’s a lovely little
article in the Guardian:
Basically a ‘Cream Tea’ involves a scone, split, then liberally
slathered in jam and cream, served with a plenty of tea.
In Devon, the tradition is cream first then jam, in Cornwall it’s jam first
then cream.
I grew up in Somerset and now live in Bristol, so I’m not biased
about either county, to me, both Devon and Cornwall have always just meant ‘holidays’.
As a kid, going through the Somerset border, past the sign saying ‘Welcome
to Devon’, I always experienced a giddy sense of glee that I was ‘on holiday’
(I still do!).
So what’s the ‘right way’ to serve the cream tea - cream, first or jam
first?
It’s an age old question, one that courts much controversy (almost
as much as which way round the loo roll should face).
This is what I’m fuelling my writing with this afternoon:
Note the split test: One scone Devon style, one Cornwall style.
In my case the ingredients are:
- A fresh scone from the awesome Lidl bakery (it’s not possible to walk into Lidl’s and walk out without buying a freshly baked good, they’re placed tantalisingly by the entrance - a master stroke of product-placement-genius!)
- Cream
- Homemade jam with strawberries from my garden and honey instead of sugar so it has a pleasing zing to it!
I’m being very scientific about this - I have in the past been known to
state my preference for the Devon method - so today, I put it to the test:
· It may not look it, but there are equal amounts of
cream and jam on both (a generous tablespoon of each per scone).
· The first thing I noticed, the Devon method (cream
first) ‘looks healthier’. This scores it extra points because of course, if we
fool ourselves it’s healthier, there’s less guilt in the consumption! (This is
why Carrot Cake is one of my five a day!)
· Conversely, this makes the Cornish method look creamier
and decadent
· Also, I can confirm, it’s much easier to get the
cream right to the edge of the scone with the Devon method and the jam is held
nicely by the friction acting on it from the denser cream. I’m a nibbler so it’s
important to me that the topping covers the whole scone evenly. If you’re a two
bites and it’s gone type, this will be less important to you.
· The Cornish method was also trickier to eat, with
the cream wanting to slide off the jam. There was much rearranging with the
knife and trying not to get gooey fingers as I ate it.
Gooey fingers + keyboard = bad news
r
· It was also more of a challenge spreading the cream
on the jam without mixing the two – personally, I like a clear distinction between
the white and red, it’s just neater and that pleases me - no swirly pink bits of
part jam part cream - the flavours should be kept distinctive.
· I will concede, I used whipped double cream
(thickly whipped, *mind) instead of clotted cream, so there is an argument that
had I used the ‘right’ cream, it wouldn't slide off the jam.
So, my verdict:
Cornwall, you may have better beaches, surfers and sound
more like pirates than your neighbours in Devon, but I’m afraid the Devonian’s
win the Cream Tea debate for me.
However, I will add that both methods result in a lip-smackingly-good
mid afternoon snack.
Great fuel for writing!
