It's served in blobs, creamier than cream, better than butter. In Cornwall, they like it over jam. In Devon, they like it under. Oh, and writer J. R. R. Tolkien decided that it was an essential food for hobbits - they wash it down with mouthfuls of honey wine.
Could there be anything more English than clotted cream? It's the star of the typical English afternoon tea, transforming simple jam and scones into a luxurious delight. Some would say it's practically a tourist attraction.
Yet, this product originally came from far, far away. It might have been introduced to England's south-west coast a couple of millennia ago by Phoenician tin traders from modern-day Lebanon, Syria and northern Israel. Certainly, it's very similar to kaymak, made from buffalo milk and served in thick rolls for breakfast across the Middle East.
Back to the garden of England, where clotted cream is made from the rich, yellow milk of cows that are fed on the greenest of grass. The very best clotted cream is made from unpasteurized milk and contains at least 55 per cent fat (compared to 18 per cent for single cream). This explains the rich, smooth texture that makes it so irresistible.
So, how is it made? Traditionally, milk was heated in a pan or in the oven for a long time, until the heavy cream separated and rose. When it cooled, it formed a crust that could be easily skimmed off from the remaining milk.
There's no need to drag yourself over to England to enjoy it. You can make clotted cream in the comfort of your own kitchen. Serve it in a porcelain pot with some jam and scones, and imagine yourself on the lawn at Downton Abbey.
But, between you and me, this stuff is too good to be eaten only with scones. Put it on your porridge, add it to mashed potatoes, puddings, tarts and pies. Or just eat it straight from the pot.
"One longs to swallow it all at a gulp," wrote the poet William Barry Peacock in 1853. I couldn't have put it better myself.
Recipe
The best results are achieved with unpasteurized cream. (The process takes around 20 hours.)
Ingredients
One litre of high-fat, unpasteurized heavy cream
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 80 °C and make sure the temperature remains constant throughout the separation process. Pour the cream into a large ovenproof dish and allow it to cook for 12 hours (yes, you read it right: 12 hours!). Remove it from the oven. The thick layer of yellow skin is your clotted cream. Cool it to room temperature, then place it in the fridge overnight to allow the surface to set. The next day, scrape off the crust and store it in a jar. It keeps in the fridge for around five days, or you can store it in an airtight container in the freezer for up to a month.