Clotted cream

Clotted cream tea, courtesy Imen

I think I may have mentioned that a high point of my childhood was the annual holiday, and that our favourite venue was Cornwall. Clotted cream is particularly associated with the West Country of England but it is my theory that it is the richest in Cornwall. There was an unassuming upstairs restaurant in Padstow that we frequented that served a variety of deserts all accompanied by the magic substance.

Commercial jam tarts

One of these deserts consisted of a couple of commercial jam tarts, the sort that Mr Kipling makes so exceedingly well, with a very generous glob. Can you believe that such simple fare could be so heavenly?

I used to save my pocket money before the holiday and would eek it out to include at least one clotted cream ice cream per day. I am not talking about the inferior stuff churned out by the likes of Mr Walls. It has to be made locally to be good. Most of the world lives in ignorance or deception - take for instance this ridiculous quote "Give a generous dollop of this delicious cream on pies, cakes, or biscuits for a luscious taste that's a cross between ice cream and whipped cream, a traditional English favorite!"