Devon fudge

Fudge is sold in gift shops all over Britain's holiday towns, but the South West has a special claim to it. Devon and Cornwall are the home of clotted cream, and clotted cream goes into their fudge.

Fudge in the West Country

Fudge is made from sugar, butter and milk or cream, and it is often bought as a gift in tourist areas. Its modern form began in the United States in the 19th century, but communities in Cornwall had long made their own version of Scottish tablet, and Cornish fudge traces its roots to the 18th century, when Cornish confectioners began using clotted cream instead of milk. Today clotted cream fudge is sold alongside flavours such as rum and raisin and salted caramel. See fudge.

Clotted cream

Clotted cream is a thick cream made by heating full cream milk and leaving it in shallow pans to cool slowly, so that the cream rises to the surface and forms clots, or clouts. It is very rich: at least 55 per cent fat, and on average about 64 per cent, compared with about 18 per cent for single cream. It has been described as having a nutty, cooked milk flavour.

It is associated with the dairy farms of South West England, and above all with Devon and Cornwall. There is evidence that the monks of Tavistock Abbey, in Devon, were making clotted cream in the early 14th century.

Devon or Cornwall?

Devon and Cornwall have long argued over where clotted cream began, and which county makes it best. Cornwall scored a point in 1998, when Cornish clotted cream was registered as a Protected Designation of Origin: to use the name, it must be made from milk produced in Cornwall and have a minimum fat content of 55 per cent. Devon points to its own long history, including the monks of Tavistock.

A holiday tradition

People on holiday in the South West have long sent small tins of clotted cream through the post to friends and family elsewhere in Britain, and fudge is another holiday present. We sell vanilla fudge cubes in our pick and mix.

For how fudge is made, and why it sometimes goes grainy, see how is fudge made? and why is my fudge grainy?

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