What’s clotted cream?
Clotted cream, also known as “crème de la crème,” originates in southwest Britain, is one of my favorite treats ever, and I just discovered that homemade clotted cream is even yummier, but let’s clear up some details.
It’s a yellowish, super smooth cream served with fresh scones and fruit jam while sipping tea and non-British people usually mistake it for butter, but it’s actually a very different thing!
Clotted cream is traditionally made in Cornwall, Devon, and Yorkshire, by slowly cooking unpasteurized cow’s milk then left to cool down, again very slowly, to have the cream rise up and clot.
Elsewhere in the UK, they don’t use butter either, though; they use whipped double cream. Good, but not as good. (if you come from “elsewhere in the UK, please, do not hate me…).
Homemade clotted cream recipe
Oh well, it’s oh so easy, but quite long. The longest recipe I’ve ever tried, actually, but when you don’t live in England or the Commonwealth, you don’t really have other options than going for the homemade one.
Pour one liter of whipping cream, as heavy and fat as possible (as we can’t get the original unpasteurized one due to European regulations) into an oven-safe pot and cover it. Put it in the oven at 80° for at least 10 hours (!) and let it cool at room temperature for at least one hour. Now you can put it in the fridge for another 10 hours.
Once you uncover the cream, you’ll notice a thick golden crust on top of it. That’s the clotted cream. Remove it with a spoon and put it in a pot or a jar, and leave it for another 3 hours in the fridge before eating it.
Once ready it last 3 days, so, do not make too much. Even though I always finish it ahead of time…
The difference between Cornish and Devon clotted cream
Well, it seems nothing, but it’s huge to me and I know cause I tried both several times to make a decision, which actually came in a second, but I just wanted to be sure 😉
The recipe is just the same in both regions, you eat it with fresh scones and fruit jam, but assembling everything in a different order: in Devon, you put cream on the scone and jam on top, like with butter, while in Cornwall jam comes first with the cream on top.
I know, reading it doesn’t make a lot of sense, but to me, the Cornish version is easier to prepare and so much tastier, and you can really enjoy the cream in your mouth till the end.
Try and let me know!
London Tea Experience at the Palace
Where did I learn all these details? In London, during an amazing tea experience with Helena at Kensington Palace, in the Orangerie tea room.
An experience I really recommend: lovely setting, lots of history and curiosity, a great host and delicious teas and traditional treats.
I even ordered that Royal fine bone china tea set on the official website once back home! I know, no comment needed.
