Devon cream tea

One of the things I was most excited about when I found out I was going to Torquay was the prospect of having an authentic Devon cream tea.

The difference between a Devon cream tea and a Cornish cream tea is that in Devon you spread your cream on the scone and top it with jam.

The Cornish prefer it the other way around, jam then cream. I’ve always been a fan of the Cornish style, but as I was in Devon I was determined to have my scone the Devon way.

When it arrived, I quickly realised why the Devonians favour the cream-before-jam method. The cream is quite solid, its consistency is similar to margarine , while the jam, rather than being thick and spreadable, is much runnier and drips on top of the layer of cream.

Cream and jam trivialities aside, my Devon cream tea was delicious and easily lived up to its billing. All I have to do now is go to Cornwall and have an authentic Cornish cream tea… in the name of research, of course.