Clotted cream: Difference between revisions

| name = Clotted cream

| image = Clotted cream (cropped).JPG

| image_size = 300px

| caption = A tub of clotted cream, showing top crust.

| alternate_name = Clouted cream, Devonshire cream, Cornish cream

| country = [[England]]

| region = [[Devon]], [[Cornwall]]

| creator = =

| course = =

| served = =

| main_ingredient =

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'''Clotted cream''' ({{lang-kw|dehen molys}}, sometimes called '''scalded''', '''clouted''', '''Devonshire''' or '''Cornish cream''') is a thick [[cream]] made by heating full-cream cow's [[milk]] using steam or a water bath and then leaving it in shallow pans to cool slowly. During this time, the cream content rises to the surface and forms "clots" or "clouts", hence the name.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/devon/outdoors/moors/dartmoor_diary/0403_contd.shtml|title=BBC - Devon Great Outdoors - Tony Beard's Dartmoor Diary}}</ref> ItClotted formscream is an essential part ofingredient afor [[cream tea]].

Although its origin is uncertain, the cream is associated with [[dairy farm]]s in [[South West England]] and in particular the counties of [[Devon]] and [[Cornwall]]. The largest commercial producer in the United Kingdom is [[A. E. Rodda & Son|Rodda's]] at [[Scorrier]], near [[Redruth]], [[Cornwall]], which can produce up to 25 tons of clotted cream a day.<ref name="interview" />

Originally made by farmers to reduce the amount of waste from their milk, clotted cream has become so deep-rooted in the culture of southwest Britain that it is embedded as part of the region's tourist attractionattractions.<ref name="case study">{{cite book |title=Between the local and the global: confronting complexity in the contemporary agri-food sector |year=2006 |publisher=Emerald Group Publishing |isbn=0-7623-1317-X |pages=306–309 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6285iMejcogC&q=clotted+cream |author=Terry Marsden |author2=Jonathan Murdoch |access-date=2 December 2010 }}</ref> While there is no doubt of its strong and long association with Cornwall and Devon, it is not clear how ancient its origins are.

[[File:Carn Euny fogou - geograph.org.uk - 1297253.jpg|thumb|right|A Roman-era Cornish [[fogou]] or ''souterrain'' ]]

The ''[[Oxford Companion to Food]]'' follows traditional folklore by suggesting it may have been introduced to Cornwall by [[Phoenicia]]n traders in search of tin.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Oxford companion to food |year=2006 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=0-19-280681-5 |page=225 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JTr-ouCbL2AC&q=clotted+cream&pg=PA225 |author=Alan Davidson |author2=Tom Jaine }}</ref> It is similar to [[kaymak]] (or kajmak), a [[Near East]]ern delicacy that is made throughout the Middle East, southeast Europe, Iran, Afghanistan, India, and Turkey. A similar clotted cream known as {{transliteration|mn|'urum'}} ({{transliterationlang|mn|өрөм}}) is also made in Mongolia.

Contemporary ancient food experts,<ref name="JW">[[{{cite book |author-link=Jacqui Wood |last=Wood, |first=Jacqui]]. ''|title=Prehistoric Cooking''. |location=Stroud: |publisher=Tempus, |date=2001. {{ISBN|isbn=0-752-41943-9 }}</ref> noting [[Strabo]]'s commentaries on Britain,{{refn|group=Note|"They live off their herds&nbsp;... As they have mines of tin and lead, they give these metals and hides from their cattle to the sea traders&nbsp;... instead of olive oil they use butter."}} have proposed that the early Britons would probably have clotted cream to preserve its freshness.

More recently, regional archaeologists <ref name=JW /><ref>Medieval Decon & Cornwall: Shaping an Ancient Countryside, Ed. Sam Turner, 2006</ref> have associated the stone ''[[fogou]]'' (dial. 'fuggy-hole'), or [[souterrains]], found across Atlantic Britain, France, and Ireland as a possible form of "cold store" for dairy production of milk, cream, and cheese in particular. Similar functions are ascribed to the [[linhay]] (or 'linney') stone-built form, often used as a dairy in later medieval [[Dartmoor longhouse|longhouse]]s in the same regions.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Pre-Norman Landscape |date=12 December 2020 |url=http://www.historic-cornwall.org.uk/flyingpast/continuity.html#courtyard |publisher=Flyingpast.org }}</ref>

[[File:Parsonage Farm- Dairy Farming in Devon, England, 1942 D10226.jpg|thumb|right| A 'Cow Man' weighs milk at [[Dartington]], 1942.]]

It has long been disputed whether clotted cream originated in Devon or Cornwall,<ref name=hawker/> and which county makes it the best.<ref>See for instance: {{cite book |title=A tour through Cornwall, in the autumn of 1808 |year=1809 |publisher=Wilkie and Robinson |pages=360–361 |url=https://archive.org/details/atourthroughcor00warngoog|quote=clouted cream.}} and {{cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/the-tartars-of-cream-1156842.html |title=The tartars of cream |work=[[The Independent]] |access-date=2011-01-07 |last=Spencer |first=Nikki |date=30 May 1998 |location=London }}</ref> There is evidence that the monks of [[Tavistock Abbey]] were making clotted cream in the early 14th century.<ref>{{cite book |last=Lane |first=John |title=In Praise of Devon: A Guide to Its People, Places and Character |year=1998 |publisher=Dundurn Press Ltd.|isbn=1-870098-75-7}}</ref> After their abbey had been ransacked by [[Vikings]] in AD 997, the monks rebuilt it with the help of [[Ordulf, Earl of Devon]]. Local workers were drafted in to help with the repairs, and the monks rewarded them with bread, clotted cream, and strawberry preserves.<ref>{{cite news |title=Did cream teas originate in Tavistock in 997AD |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/devon/news_features/2004/tavistock_cream_tea.shtml |access-date=3 December 2010 |work=[[BBC News]] |date=17 January 2004 }}</ref> {{dubious|date=March 2024}} The 1658 [[cookery book]] ''The Compleat Cook'' had a recipe for "clouted cream".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.vintagerecipes.net/books/compleat_cook/to_make_clouted_cream_1.php |title=To make Clouted Cream - |work=Vintage Recipes |access-date=2011-07-09 |archive-date=2014-08-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140819084653/http://www.vintagerecipes.net/books/compleat_cook/to_make_clouted_cream_1.php |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In the 19th century it was regarded as better nourishment than "raw" cream because that cream was liable to go sour and be difficult to digest, causing illness.<ref>{{cite book |last=Sinclair |first=Sir John |title=The code of health and longevity: or, A concise view, of the principles calculated for the preservation of health, and the attainment of long life|year=1807 |publisher=Printed for A. Constable & co |pages=[https://archive.org/details/codehealthandlo00sincgoog/page/n261 272]–273 |url=https://archive.org/details/codehealthandlo00sincgoog|quote=clouted cream.}}</ref> An article from 1853 calculates that creating clotted cream will produce 25 percent more cream than regular methods.<ref>{{cite news |title=Rural economy: The dairy |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1853/01/21/75351676.pdf |access-date=3 December 2010 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=21 January 1853 }}</ref> In Devon, it was so common that in the mid-19th century it was used in the formative processes of [[butter]], instead of churning cream or milk. The butter made in this way had a longer lifespan and was free from any negative flavours added by the churning.<ref>{{cite book |title=The transactions of the Provincial medical and surgical association |year=1839 |publisher=Provincial Medical and Surgical Association, |location=Worcester |pages=203–204 }}</ref>

It has long been the practice for local residents in southwest England, or those on holiday, to send small tins or tubs of clotted cream by post to friends and relations in other parts of the British Isles.<ref name=IND>{{cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/the-tartars-of-cream-1156842.html|title=The tartars of cream |work=[[The Independent]] |access-date=2011-01-07 |last=Spencer |first=Nikki |date=30 May 1998 |location=London }}</ref>

In 1993, an application was made for the name ''Cornish clotted cream'' to have a [[Protected Geographical Status|Protected Designation of Origin]] (PDO) in the [[European Union]] for cream produced by the traditional recipe in Cornwall. This was accepted in 1998.<ref>{{cite EU regulation |serial=2088/98 |date=30 September 1998 |description=supplementing the Annex to Regulation (EC) No 2400/96 on the entry of certain names in the Register of protected designation of origin and protected geographical indications |eurlextag=31998R2088 }}</ref> Cornish clotted cream must be made from milk produced in Cornwall and have a minimum [[butterfat]] content of 55 percent.<ref name="defra">{{cite web |title=EU Protected Food Names Scheme&nbsp;— UK registered names&nbsp;— National application No: 03514: Cornish clotted cream |publisher=[[Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs]] |url=http://www.defra.gov.uk/foodfarm/food/industry/regional/foodname/products/registered/cornclcream.htm |archive-url=http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20130822084033/http://www.defra.gov.uk/foodfarm/food/industry/regional/foodname/products/registered/cornclcream.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=22 August 2013 |access-date =10 July 2016}}</ref> The unique, slightly yellow Cornish clotted cream colour is due to the high [[carotene]] levels in the grass.<ref name="defra" />

Cabbage cream (which does not contain cabbage in spite ofdespite the name) was a delicacy in the mid-17th century: layers of clotted cream were interspersed with sugar and [[rosewater]], creating a cabbage-like effect when served.<ref>{{cite book|title=A gift to young housewives|year=1998|publisher=Indiana University Press|isbn=0-253-21210-3|pages=368–369}}</ref> It was a common accompaniment to [[junket (dessert)|junket]], a milk-based dessert whichthat went out of fashion in the mid-20th century.

As with many Cornish and Devonian icons, clotted cream has become entrenched in local folklore. For example, one myth tells of Jenny who enticed the giant [[Blunderbore]] (sometimes called Moran) by feeding him clotted cream. He eventually fell in love with her and made her his fourth wife.<ref>{{cite book|last=Viccars|first=Sue|title=Frommer's Devon and Cornwall With Your Family|year=2011|publisher=Frommer|isbn=978-0-470-74947-0|page=238}}</ref> Another myth, from [[Dartmoor]], tells of a princess who wanted to marry an [[Elf|elven]] prince, but according to tradition had to bathe in pure cream first. A witch who wanted the prince for her daughter kept souring the cream. Eventually, the prince offered the princess clotted cream, whichthat the witch was unable to sour.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.legendarydartmoor.co.uk/clott_cream.htm|title=Dartmoor Clotted Cream|publisher=Legendary Dartmoor|access-date=2010-12-03|last=Sandles|first=Tim}}{{Dead link|date=March 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

Clotted cream is also mentioned as one of the staple foods of the [[hobbit]]s in [[J.R.R. Tolkien]]'s ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' books.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Smith |first1=Noble |title=The Wisdom of the Shire: A Short Guide to a Long and Happy Life |publisher=Macmillan |url=https://archive.org/details/wisdomofshiresho0000smit|url-access=registration |quote=lotr OR lord of the rings clotted cream. |websitevia=Internet Archive |pages=[https://archive.org/details/wisdomofshiresho0000smit/page/13 13] |date=2012-10-30 |isbn=9781250025562 |access-date=2017-01-26}}</ref>