Clotted Cream with Everything

Continuing my report from our holiday in Cornwall….

We arrived at our holiday cottage in a valley not far from the north Cornish coast late in the afternoon. We tumbled in, tired and grumpy. We had had a long drive from London and there was still the unpacking to do. But the charm of the place perked us up. It was one of those cute, tiny little cottages with timbered beams across a low ceiling and vast open fireplaces dating from over 200 years ago. There was an richly textured garden of flowers and shrubs in the front and a lawn at the back. And - perking us up even more - there was a basket of fresh scones, a bowl of strawberry jam and a pot of clotted cream waiting for us in the kitchen.

The unpacking could wait. At at time like this, there was nothing for it but to put the kettle on, lay out the cream tea spread out in the garden and settle down for a yummy time.

Clotted cream is made from the thick cream floating at the top of full fat milk. You skim it off and boil it down till its even thicker and richer. Then you let it cool and refrigerate for a few days. The result is a gooey, vanilla-ish, glop that you can dollop on any dessert or fruit.

Scones are a cross between bread and cake - the best ones are light and fluffy with big fat currants in them. The genius of cream teas is that somehow, the blend of crumbly scone with strawberry jam and a dollop of clotted cream interspersed with lashings of hot tea just meld together into a taste experience of sheer bliss.

Whoever said that English food is not much to write home about?

Throughout our week in Cornwall, wherever we turned, there was clotted cream. You could have it on apple and blackberry crumble or with fresh strawberries or on fruit tarts or more scones than you could dream of. We took to having cream tea for breakfast as well as tea time. We walked on cliffs all over the coast but clearly did not walk long enough or hard enough to burn off the joys of clotted cream. Looking at our snapshots of our holiday, you can see me getting chubbier and rounder as the week goes on… Oh dear.