Is it Scone or Scon? And does it even matter?

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May 19, 2024
3 min read

Q, What is the difference between a door and a dour?

A, It’s the same difference as a floor and a floore

So is it Scone or scon? And does it really matter? Would the wrong pronunciation be regarded as a social faux pass?

When it comes to eating these soft breads you are faced with another social conundrum, Should the cream be spread on the scone before the jam or is it the other way around? Important decisions like this should not be made in haste as they may have consequences that could influence the trajectory of your career path, social mobility and or marital status.

The first written record of the word scone on these islands is in a Scottish poem dating from 1513 and was a translation by Gavin Douglas of the Aenaid and yet it is in the most South Westerly part of England that people get all hot and bothered about their scones with intense and histrionic debate about which goes on first the jam or the cream. Traditionally in Devon the cream goes on first and then the jam while in neighbouring Cornwall it’s the jam that goes on first followed by clotted cream.

When the National Trust shared an image of a scone spread with cream and jam on top with the setting for this delightful table top scene being Lanhydrock, the heart of Cornwall, a place where historically cream always rests on top of the jam and anything otherwise is sacrilege, some disgruntled Cornish folk went as far as to call it ‘cultural vandalism’ such is the rivalry between the two.

It is said of the Irish scone that no two bakeries make their scone in the same way and the recipe of each bakery is a closely guarded secret. So closely guarded in fact that many a recipe has gone to the grave with the master baker who had perfected its texture and flavour over a lifetime of dedication to early morning kneading and proving.

When I was a small child bread from Mac’s home bakery would magically appear on the kitchen table on Monday mornings wrapped in white paper bags that had been stained from the moisture of its warm contents to form shapes of animals, countries and the faces of ghouls and goblins. There was a bag for each type of bread. Farls in one bag, wheaten in another and a dozen scones spilling like giant popcorn from another bag. The breads would still be warm and the smell wholesome and comforting. But this “Little House on the Prairie” picture postcard scene was always tinged with disappointment as the majority of the scones in the bag were plain and by the time the bag had been passed to me all the fruit and wheaten scones had been claimed by my older siblings. All that was left were the dry flour topped plain scones that often stuck to the roof of my mouth like painters putty. I would invariably get slap on the back of my head from my father for putting my finger in my mouth while eating as I tried to poke this flour based putty ball free.

Scones/Scons

What you will need

1 bowl

1 mixing spoon

A flat surface for rolling (work top or table)

A rolling pin (If you don’t have one use your hands to pat it flap)

A pastry cutter (If you don’t have one use a drinking class or cup, see pic)

A baking try (if you don’t have one make one from tin foil, see episode one

Ingredients

8oz/225g/ 2 cups self-raising flour

1 tsp baking power

2tbsp Caster Sugar