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EveryCow

Milk and cream

Clotted cream

Thick yellow cream formed by gently heating milk and cooling it slowly, the crown of a Devon or Cornish cream tea.

Clotted cream is made by heating full-cream milk or cream gently for hours in shallow pans, then leaving it to cool slowly so the fat rises and forms a thick crust. The crust is skimmed off as a dense, pale yellow cream with a nutty, cooked flavour. It belongs to Devon and Cornwall, where it is spread on scones with jam.

What goes in

Full-cream milk or cream: 63%63%Gentle heat: 19%19%Slow cooling: 19%19%3parts
  • Full-cream milk or cream1063%, High in fat.
  • Gentle heat319%, Hours in a shallow pan or water bath.
  • Slow cooling319%, Overnight in a cool dairy.

Rough parts by weight. The ring shows each input's share of the product.

Made step by step

Each drawing shows the operation for that step. Quantities and timings differ from house to house and herd to herd; this is one traditional way, in outline.

  1. Step 1: Milk Pour full-cream milk or cream into a wide, shallow pan.
  2. Step 2: Cook Heat it gently for several hours without boiling until a crust forms.
  3. Step 3: Set Leave it to cool slowly overnight.
  4. Step 4: Strain Skim the thick crust off and pack it into pots.
  5. Step 5: Serve Serve on warm scones with strawberry jam.
  6. Full-cream milk or cream: 63%63%Gentle heat: 19%19%Slow cooling: 19%19%
    Finished Clotted cream, by share.

Scalded cream

Farm dairies in the West Country once set milk in wide pans over a low fire or in a water bath, a method called scalding. The thick crust, or clout, was lifted with a skimmer. Cornish clotted cream now holds a protected designation of origin and must be made from Cornish milk with at least 55 per cent fat. It keeps longer than fresh cream.

The cream tea

A cream tea is a pot of tea with scones, strawberry jam and clotted cream. Devon and Cornwall are said to disagree on the order: in Devon the cream goes on the scone first, in Cornwall the jam. Clotted cream is also served with fruit pies, and made into ice cream and fudge. The South Devon breed gives notably rich milk.

Where it is used

Cream teaWith fruit piesFudge and ice cream

The breeds behind it

South DevonLarge West Country breed with rich milk.JerseyHigh-fat milk favoured for cream.GuernseyGolden, high-fat milk.

Also part of it, and being written: North Devon cattle (The red cattle of Devon.).

More on EveryCow

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Sources and further reading

About this page

Original text and drawings by the EveryCow desk, written with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. The shares are a rough, illustrative ratio, not a recipe: every family and dairy makes it differently. If we have something wrong, tell us.

Photo credits on this page

The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.

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