Cream Then Jam Or Jam Then Cream…Scone Row

Should it be, cream then jam or jam then cream?

That debate, has split parts of the English west country for not just years, but centuries.

With garden parties at home for the recent VE Day commemorations in the UK afternoon tea with scones and jam was suggested by Prime Minster Johnson’s team.

Afternoon tea such a British institution.

Certainly, a delightful way to spend some time enjoying this summertime tea treat in what turned out to be a lovely sunny afternoon for most of the country on that 75th anniversary day.

Cream tea, but this was pictured in Devon!

Scones warmed and freshly cut but now comes that major decision?

Do you apply a neat layer of jam first, on both halves with a knife and then a spoonful or ‘dollop’ (Old English colloquial term for a well loaded spoon of food) of clotted cream on both to complete the dish?

The Cornish version.

The other technique is to slowly slide your spoon or knife through the dense clotted cream feeling some resistance as you do.  Then smear or caress it, onto each scone half, followed quickly by a generous spoon of jam, dripped over the waiting cream.

The Devon version.

Other ways, just using a knife work quite well.  But here, as a matter of aesthetics regarding the finished appearance, using spoons and or knives, better to use two of each, so no double dipping!

 The River Tamar Border

Served on a plate or board with or without some flamboyant decoration, but the scones should hold their own in any situation if baked to the right consistency and colour. Fruit or plain scones could well be a debate for another time?

Ready for some jam and cream scone action but which treat will go first?

Crossing the River Tamar that divides Devon from Cornwall, is where you have to think about applying the correct county technique.  For, on it’s eastern shore its cream, then jam but the reverse is then true on the western side, as its jam, then cream!

Cream first here is the general rule.

Although, I have never spotted any warning signs on the main A30 dual carriageway that crosses through both counties and the river border.  No ‘Check Point Charlie’ type signage. ‘You are now leaving, the cream first, then jam sector!’

Cream teas were served on this service from London to Penzance.

In reality no one really cares too much how you eat your scones.  No Devon café owner would turn you away, cursing you as they did. And no, Cornish tea shop manager, would cast you out, followed quickly by your offensive concoction.

Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown taking tea in the west country.

One large clotted cream manufacturing company went to a university to ask them to come up with a definitive answer. The team from Sheffield concluded the following:

According to their research on the perfect cream tea, your scone should be 4-7cm in diameter and the jam should be spread on first (very important!), leaving a space around the edge. Finally, the clotted cream should sit proudly on the top.

A Cornwall  cream tea example.

The company said, “We naturally knew all this already, but it’s nice to have it scientifically backed up”.

A scientific formula has been drawn up, should you wish to see if your creations come up to the mark. But, making sense of it for us maths duffers does not really help a great deal!

Another Devon example.

One point to note, is that the company that went to these lengths in scone research was, from Cornwall.

Therefore, you may need to check further with your own food tasting and scientific investigations team in order to do your own checks and balances on their results.

The Queen knows what it takes to run a great afternoon tea event!

Although, the conclusion by the university has also been supported by one important player in the garden party stakes. And if, there is any one person who knows how to throw a grand garden party, then it’s the Queen.

Duke Of Cornwall…Influence At The Palace?

Her Buckingham Palace private gardens, in London are thrown open to the great and the good, several times each summer. The Royal regulation coming from the kitchens, is that it is, jam first and then the cream!

That looks nice, Prince Charles took home some homemade

Mind you her eldest son, Prince Charles, is also the Duke of Cornwall and perhaps he has had some influence in the kitchens over the years?

The right, almost Royal rows have continued with situations like this for instance.  Where a National Trust property in Cornwall published an advert for a cream tea for its café but the image clearly depicted a Devon style creation!

Lanhydrock House found itself in a pickle with their advert on Facebook.

This Cornish stately home of Lanhydrock House, had to take down the Facebook post in order to placate the offended Cornish readers!

A Decision Is Made

Regarding my personal conclusion about this issue? I think it comes down to, taste or a balanced combination and overall aesthetics.

Cornwall prefers this method.

Biting through the cream, then the jam and then the scone is a better all-round taste sensation. The smooth dense cream, the sweet jam and a soft crumbly scone in that order, works best.

Although, the cream then jam approach does have an initial pleasant look. Colourful bright and attractive. With mainly red jam flowing down over and around the cream, an amalgamation  takes place and the overall look, does loose some appeal.

Devon prefers this style.

Plus, with less overall control over the free running jam, it can turn messy.  And especially as we also eat with our eyes. The aesthetics diminish somewhat with the Devon version after a bite.

Sorry Devon!

Even though I have a lineage going back many generations in North Devon.  I have to support ‘Kernow’ over this very important issue and its, jam then cream, methodology.

If you feel aggrieved, over this my personal opinion of cream tea etiquette, do let me know?

This is the second west country conflict I have touched on in my blog. The great Cornish ‘Pasty’ crimping row was the other one.

Should the crimp be over the top or on the side? This post still gets tons hits even now, quite a few years since it was first aired.

I am also pondering the perplexity of the pronunciation of the word ‘scone’ or rather the ‘n’. Is that, ‘scone’ as in, gone? Or ‘scone’ as in, own?

Another row on the horizon should I go on that course I fear too?