What’s up with the clotted cream?
My daughter sent us a lovely
English Tea Hamper for Valentine’s Day.
It came with a couple of nice scones, three different conserves, a jar
of clotted cream, a fruit cake, and tea (or course). I think I remember trying some clotted cream
a number of years ago and not really thinking too much about it but had put it
out of my mind. We decided to have our “TEA”
for breakfast the next morning.
I set out the conserves and opened
the clotted cream and put them on the table, brewed up a cup of tea for each of
us, popped the scones in the very large toaster that I had just given my
husband for Valentine’s Day since all British bread seems to come in very tall
and very fat, and cut off a small chunk of the fruit cake for each of us. The scones popped up nice and warm but they
don’t open nicely into two halves. They sort
of start crumbling the minute you try and open them. Oh well, still plenty of nice surface area to
put some conserves (for non Brits, read jelly or jam or preserves) on each
piece and the infamous clotted cream.
I delved into the jar, certain that
a nice big dollop of cream was needed for each slice and bite. Stabbed a hunk of scone and put it into my
mouth anticipating – what I’m not sure.
What I got was pretty much a mouthful of jam and scone and really no
other taste! Now I know that my taste
buds are not the best for discerning subtle differences in spices and herbs and
flavors but I would expect to be able to tell I was eating something milky and
creamy. My hubby’s taste buds are much
better and he felt there was even less taste to the clotted cream than I
thought. Guess I had expected it to be
rather like a whipping cream but heavier.
I guess it is but it is also less flavorful and less tasty. Basically, I think it is adding texture and
bulk but not a whole lot of anything else.
So all this mystery over the famous scones and clotted cream must be more
traditional because that’s all they had way back when, rather than a tasty treat
of the ages. I will continue to eat
scones and clotted cream because I like the tradition and the sense of “Englishness”
but it won’t be something I go out of my way to get because of the taste.
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