Clotted cream

Clotted cream

A tub of clotted cream, showing top crust.
Alternative names	Clouted cream, Cornish cream, Devonshire cream
Place of origin	United Kingdom
Region or state	Cornwall, Devon

Clotted cream (sometimes called scalded, clouted, Devonshire or Cornish cream) is a thick cream made by indirectly 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". It forms an essential part of a cream tea.

Although its origin is uncertain, the cream's production is commonly associated with dairy farms in southwest England and in particular the counties of Cornwall and Devon. The current largest commercial producer in the UK is Rodda's in Redruth, Cornwall, which can produce up to 25 tonnes (25,000 kg; 55,000 lb) of clotted cream a day. In 1998 the term Cornish clotted cream became a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) by European Union directive, as long as the milk is produced in Cornwall and the minimum fat content is 55%.

"Its orient tinge, like spring-time morn,
Or baby-buttercups newly-born;
Its balmy perfume, delicate pulp,
One longs to swallow it all at a gulp,
Sure man had ne'er such gifts or theme
As your melt-in-mouthy Devonshire cream."

—William Barry Peacock, Manchester, 1853

Clotted cream has been described as having a "nutty, cooked milk" flavour, and a "rich sweet flavour" with a texture that is grainy, sometimes with oily globules on the crusted surface. It is a thick cream, with a very high fat content (a minimum of 55 percent, but an average of 64 percent); in the United States it would be classified as butter. For comparison, the fat content of single cream is only 18 percent.

Due to its high saturated fat content, the regular consumption of clotted cream is usually thought to be bad for health, though some dairy fat in the diet is considered beneficial. A 2006 survey of nutrition professionals ranked clotted cream as the least healthy of 120 foods selected to be representative of the British diet. According to the United Kingdom's Food Standards Agency, a 100-gram (3.5 oz) tub of clotted cream provides 586 kilocalories (2,450 kJ), roughly equivalent to a 200-gram (7.1 oz) cheeseburger.