No war ! ! just tradition.
Traditional “cream tea” (with scone) cream is clotted cream and strawberry jam.
The traditional stuff is how to add the filling, it can be jam first or cream first.
Cornwall is always jam first, cream on top.
Devon is cream followed by jam.
Outside the west country, it’s just personal preference.
Victoria Sponge does have cream with jam, but it’s the cream is butter cream, whipped butter and icing sugar, plus a touch of vanilla.
Jam can be anything red, normally strawberry or raspberry.
The jam and cream thing never used to bother me, then for the past four or five years, each Sunday I cook for Mother in law, every so often that includes scones. Every time I do so she trots out that people outside Cornwall don’t know how to eat scones. She moved there on retirement and stayed for 12 of her 92 years. Guess how she ate them before!
My first holiday job whilst at school was at a third generation family bakers. He was adamant that cream or buttercream was a post war affectation and refused to use anything other than Robertson’s strawberry jam. He also refused to use margarine.
Ynys Enlli / Bardsey Island archaeological features. Located 1.9 miles off the Llŷn Peninsula, North Wales. I stayed for a week in April and took a quick snap on my phone.
