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When it comes to baked goods, few issues carry the contentions of the great scone debate: should the cream or the jam be spread first?
Cream tea has been served in the UK since the 11th century and arguments surrounding the order of spreading the scone’s traditional toppings have ruminated ever since.
While those in Devon typically spread the clotted cream first followed by jam, the Cornish tradition is to spread jam first followed by cream.
Finally, we have some clarity on the issue, as it’s revealed how the Queen takes her scones.
An exemplar of British traditions, the Queen reportedly prefers jam first, according to a former chef who worked for the royal family from 1982 to 1993.
“Jam first at Buckingham Palace garden parties!” Darren McGrady wrote on Twitter.
“The Queen always had homemade Balmoral jam first,” the chef and author added in a subsequent tweet, “with clotted cream on top at Buckingham Palace garden parties in the royal tea tent and all royal tea parties.”
His comments come after an advert for a Mother’s Day cream tea sparked outrage over its depiction of a scone with the jam on top of the cream.
Cornish National Trust property Lanhydrock House and Garden posted an image of the offending scone on Facebook, which prompted a furore amongst local residents who argued the scone had been prepared according to Devon traditions, rather than Cornish ones.
“There are some things you don’t do national trust, and putting a picture of a DEVON cream for a CORNISH cream tea event is disgusting,” one person commented on the post.
“Shame on you NT,” added another. “This is cultural vandalism. Scone, then strawberry jam then clotted cream. Anything else is not the Cornish way. This message is not tongue in cheek!”
The property has since apologised for posting the image, which they explained was a mistake.
However, scone contentions proceeded to rage on with inimitable force, as an episode of The Great British Bake Off reignited a perennial debate regarding its pronunciation: should ‘scone’ rhyme with ‘gone’ or ‘bone’?
While judge Paul Hollywood and hosts Sandi Toksvig and Noel Fielding used the former, one contestant went for the rarer ‘bone’ pronunciation, which sent viewers into a frenzy.
Scones might just be the most controversial baked good of our time.
