The woman recently shared a clip of herself trying a cream tea. But followers were flabbergasted by one thing – and it wasn’t the age-old debate around the order of cream and jam
An American woman in the UK has attempted to lay the age-old debate around which order to put jam and cream on a cream tea – but people were left flabbergasted by one thing she did. The woman, who regularly posts videos of herself trying UK food on TikTok, where she is known as carfoodreview_uk and has 27,000 followers, recently shared a clip of herself trying the quintessentially British treat.
But followers were left baffled by one thing in the video. Opening the clip, she presents a plate with two scones cut in half, each with a different combination of toppings. One just had jam and another just had clotted cream, while another had cream on top of jam, and the fourth had the reverse.
“Today I’m going to see which way tastes the best,” she says. “I have jam, clotted cream, and scones. First I’m gonna try the clotted cream on its own just to see how good it is.”
After taking a bite she says: “I don’t even know what to compare that to in America, but it’s good.” Continuing, she says: “Now let’s try just the jam. I was told it isn’t a specific type of jam. Usually it’s strawberry, but it can be blueberry, boysenberry. This is apricot because this is what we had in the fridge. So let’s give this a try.”
After taking a bite she says: “Love it. Amazing. I love scones.”
Moving to the two pieces with both toppings on, she says: “Ok, let’s try clotted cream first and then jam on top.” After tasting it she says: “I’m not gonna say anything yet, I’m gonna wait until I try the other one. So here’s jam first and clotted cream on top.”
After trying the final piece she says: “Ok, I’m noticing you’re getting more of the jam flavour when it’s on top.” Indicating to the piece with the cream on top, she says: “This, it’s ok. I think I’m gonna go for clotted cream on the bottom and jam on top.”
Many people in the comments section had the same reaction. One wrote: “Apricot jam on scones!!! What are you doing?” Another said: “What the heck kind of jam? No! It’s strawberry only.”
But someone else wrote: “Apricot is actually my favourite. Is this the M&S basic one? That’s the best apricot! Cream on the bottom is also the best choice.”
A different user wrote: “Blackcurrant and raspberry is the best! It’s also nice with jam and cheese in my opinion!” And another said: “Raspberry or strawberry jam is more usual, but nothing is out of bounds. If you want to start a war – try it with Nutella!”
Which is the right order to put jam and cream on a cream tea?
The woman dodged the ancient debate around whether cream or jam goes on the scone first by trying both. But which is the correct way? The answer differs depending on who you ask.
According to tourism website Active England, in Cornwall the jam goes on first with the cream on top. “The cream and the jam then don’t mix and allows for the jam to be easily spread, with a thinner consistency first,” the site says.
But over the border in Devon, they do things the other way round. “The Devonshire way follows the logic of the cream acting like butter,” the site says. “Therefore, you would spread butter on toast before jam and thus spreading cream on a scone first and then jam is the more logical order.”
In reality, there isn’t a correct way to do it – just do it the way that tastes best to you. In fact, if you’re already cutting your scone in half, why not try both and decide which one you like best?
