Cream Tea refers to scones with clotted cream (also called Devonshire cream) and jam.
A popular question related to Cream Tea is whether the cream or jam should be put on the scone first. If you’re in Devon, the cream goes on first, followed by a hearty scoop of fruit jam. If you’re in Cornwall, it’s the other way around.
This isn’t simply about personal preference on how to consume a baked good. We’re talking about: cultural appropriation; science versus tradition; colonialism; the suppression of an entire nation; and of a thousand-year proxy war between Anglo-Saxon and Celt. 😉
The debate
The main issue of contention remains about what goes on first, the cream or the jam.
In 2018, the National Trust had to issue an apology following an advert run by their Cornish property, Lanhydrock House. This scandalously depicted a scone with jam on top. Some locals branded this marketing error as an outrage. Ultimatums arrived suggesting that true Cornish folk should cancel their National Trust membership to resist Devon’s imperial ambitions.
It’s a debate that has spanned for centuries and transcends counties, in particular Devon and its neighbor Cornwall. The National Trust property reignited the controversy. Thus caused mass debate on social media and on TV.
The late Queen Elizabeth II reportedly preferred jam first. According to a former chef who worked for the royal family from 1982 to 1993: “The Queen always had homemade Balmoral jam first with clotted cream on top at Buckingham Palace garden parties in the royal tea tent and all royal tea parties.”
Devonian rationalists, on the other hand, argue that in Devon cream is seen to be like butter. Nobody, in fact, would put butter on jam. Moreover, it seems that in ancient times the jam was expensive and you would have less of it. For this reason, you would put it on top.
The verdict
There is a scientific formula, however, that should put an end to this debate once and for all. Food scientist Dr Stuart Farrimond and baker Mich Turner claim that a formula of 4:3:3 will result in a perfect cream tea.
In a report in the Daily Telegraph, the formula reveals that a 40 g scone is served with 30 g of cream and 30 g of jam. Dr Stuart revealed that this ratio will achieve the ‘hedonic breakpoint’: the ideal level of sweetness (around 28 per cent per mouthful) from the jam, balanced out by the cool cream and simple scone.
If followed properly, the formula will result in a cream tea that is 4 cm in height, with the scone reaching 2 cm and being topped with thick layers of cream and jam.
Dr Stuart also concluded that it’s also far more practical to apply cream first, as it facilitates the application of a more even and easier spread of the toppings to achieve the perfect 4:3:3 ratio.
Case closed.