Scientists' controversial verdict on age-old scone debate: Jam or cream first?
It's a debate as old as scones themselves. What's meant to go on a scone first: Jam or Jam?
Now scientists from the UK's Centre for Industrial Rheology say they have come up with the answer.
'Rheology' is a branch of physics that deals with the deformation and flow of matter, especially liquids and solids.
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Scientists in the UK have determined the correct order for placing jam and cream on scones. Getty Images/iStockphoto
The Centre for Industrial Rheology researchers set out to find the answer to the age-old scone dilemma by looking at four areas: viscosity (how the 'thickness' of the jam and cream vary in relation to each other); oscillatory, (determining the complex modulus to reveal the rigidity of jam and cream); yield stress to indicate 'spreadability' of the jam and cream; and thixotropic, to show how the cream 'recovers' after the 'shearing' process.
The researchers purchased Cornish clotted cream and strawberry jam from British chain store Marks & Spencer, which were chilled to 10 degrees Celsius before testing got under way.
After putting both the cream and jam through a range of rigid tests, the scientists came to their final conclusion. Drum roll, please...
Clotted cream is more viscous and has a higher complex modulus than jam at lower shear rates.
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Scientists determined adding jam first was the wrong order. Getty
This means the "only logical conclusion" from the study is "that to have a good, rigid, base for the jam the clotted cream needs to be applied to the scone first."
This is because the tests found the clotted cream had higher complex modulus than jam, indicating a more rigid structure.
If, like me, you are still not convinced, let's see what some other experts think.
The UK's Daily Mail Online asked the head of the National Bakery School at London South Bank University, Cristina Solinas.
She agreed the right order was cream followed by jam but confused matters by adding this depended on the "texture and consistency of both the jam and cream" and how this contributes to "how the scone feels when chewed."
She also believed putting the jam on top looked "more vibrant" than if the jam was hidden under the cream.
Interestingly, those arbiters of all things British, the BBC, has a recipe for "Classic scones with jam & clotted cream" on its Good Food website which clearly shows the cream on top of the jam.
Furthermore, the late Queen Elizabeth II was said to be a proponent of jam first, cream second, according to a 2018 article in The Independent, which quoted 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," he 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."
