Clotted Cream: A Delicious Raw Cream Treat

What would you have when you want to pamper yourself? How about a very British treat – a cream tea?

This afternoon tea is not just a snack but a ritual. And it is not a cup of tea with cream.

It is all about a talk with friends over a cup of tea (without cream or milk) accompanied by freshly baked crumbly scones with strawberry jam and clotted cream. Yes, richly flavored, ready-to-melt-in-your-mouth clotted cream! 

What makes clotted cream so delicious?

You may find clotted cream in a dairy section of a local grocery store.

But what exactly makes clotted cream legitimate and authentic? My regular and devoted readers may have already guessed. It’s raw unpasteurized milk!

The pasteurization process obviously changes the fat globules’ structure, forming a clotted cream.

Good Old Way To Extend Shelf Life Of Dairy Product

Suffice it to recall that our ancestors came up with such a product as clotted cream to extend its shelf life.

We will not dispute whether clotted cream originated in Devon or Cornwall, as we are pretty much sure that traditional raw milk processing could arise almost simultaneously in different places or countries.

So farmers had to find ways to preserve the milk yield and to reduce the amount of waste from milk daily. And the easiest way is gentle heating and reduction in volume.

So, if you have access to raw milk and don’t care about health and safety reasons why you shouldn’t use it in your cooking, go ahead and make your own clotted cream to feel the difference.

How To Get The Most Out Of Raw Milk?

If you use a cream separator, you’ll get far more clotted cream from the same amount of raw milk than the traditional method of ladle separating. Pour your separated cream into a large and shallow baking dish and leave it in the oven on its lowest temperature setting overnight. In the morning, you will find that the cream has clotted. Let the cream cool to room temperature. Then put it into a fridge for several hours. Finally, scoop the clots. And here is your homemade, irresistibly great, grainy textured, fresh, and nutty clotted cream to spice up your afternoon tea scone!