Scones have been knocking about far longer than your nana’s teapot. The earliest scone recipe in existence first popped up in Scotland in the early 1500s, back when they were more oat puck than fluffy oven bake. That makes scones over 500 years old – so we’ve had some time and testing to make today’s versions the best of the best.
Those early prototypes were usually cooked on a griddle over a fire, cut into wedges, and eaten usually by what Hollywood would call peasants in a classic medieval film, usually in and around a castle – as the ingredients were cheap and it was easy to make. The name likely comes from Dutch or German words for “fancy bread”, which feels about right… but they didn’t always have a raising agent in them so must have been more like stones than scones. Maybe that’s really where the word came from?
Fast forward to the 1840s and scones hit the big time. Anna, Duchess of Bedford, got a bit peckish one afternoon and asked for tea, biscuits and scones. She liked the combo so much she made it a daily thing, and just like that, afternoon tea became a full cultural moment for the British Empire… and it spread like wildfire to all corners of the world, including Aotearoa New Zealand.
Since then, there have been many people who say they’ve perfected the recipe – Edmonds, Chelsea and the big guys say they have the best recipes… but there’s nothign quite like a boutique cafe putting their own spin on such a thing. That’s where we came in with Scone.nz.
Crowdsourcing the best from across the country, as well as the recipes for when you aren’t on the go. We’ve got cafes from Tahuna Queenstown all the way to the cobbled lanes of Ōtautahi Christchurch covered for you, so you don’t need to do the digging.
As for the eternal question… jam or cream? Well, that depends on where you plant your flag. And do you need both?
Cornwall in the UK goes jam then cream, while Devon (famous for it’s clotted variety) flips it with cream first. All we can say is, either way, a warm scone with butter, good jam and a thick scoop of something silky is a small joy worth defending. Maybe this should be our manifesto?
So go on, get eating… otherwise they’ll all be scone!
