subject: The Past, Present And Future Of Scones [print this page] Scones have always accompanied the cream tea or the famous Devonshire tea of the British, the Scottish, and the Irish. A part of their heritage and with its roots that has penetrated deep down in to their culture and lifestyle, scones have always been a hallmark for the people residing well within the boundaries of the United Kingdom. However, with further globalization, the world came to be aware of the availability of these delectable food items and many cultures from across the globe borrowed the recipe, mixing and blending in their own new ingredients and thus giving rise to the myriad varieties of scones available today.
What are scones exactly?
Scones are nothing but sweet and savory bread mixed with several other items such as butter, milk, cheese in some occasions, soda (for soda farls), fruits for fruit scones etc. Scones are simply butter added to wheat, oatmeal, and barley for producing a smooth and flaky texture. Milk is added with the same and baking powder is applied as a leavening agent. In some cases, these are baked while in other cases, they are fried. Fried scones are generally known as girdle scones and are known to originate in the Southern region of New Zealand. Scones are one of the main components of the British/Scottish cream tea. It can be termed as a mixture of the currant bun, the American biscuits often known as cookies and a tea cake.
Types of scones available today
With the increasing popularity of the scones, several new preparations of scones have emerged from behind the scene. Now there are more than 30 varieties of scones available across the globe. There are the traditional soda farls and potato scones often known as the tattie scones. Often known as the Ulster fry, the potato scones, which are made out of the potato flour, are round shaped, small, pancake look alike scones, usually a major component of the traditional Scottish breakfast.
Moving from conventional Scottish scones, we come to the southwestern parts of Australia and Southern New Zealand where scones are fried instead of baking. These types of small pancake type fried scones are usually known by the name of girdle scones. Fried scones are also quite famous in the northwestern parts of Utah, where sweet yeast dough is mixed with butter, milk, soda is added, and baking powder is mixed. Then the scones are fried to make what the Native Americans call as a fry bread.
Apart from these one can also get hold of drop scones and lemonade scones where lemonade is added instead of milk or butter. The English however, prefer cheese scones for getting that light sweet, yet savory taste. Fruit scones are prepared using a wide variety of fruits as the main ingredients such as dates, raisins, blueberries or raspberries, nuts, cherries, apricots, sultanas etc.
