ottawa foodies

Is there a shop in Ottawa that has a good selection of British food items? Or maybe somewhere I can get a good jar of devonshire cream (must be a British product, not a reasonable attempt by President's Choice).

Is Devonshire Cream the same as Clotted Cream? My wife gets the latter somewhere

I think it's the same thing (but I'm not a Brit).

Sorry, now that I realize that they're the same thing I found an older forum posting on clotted cream sources.

But to ask the broader question, is there a shop in Ottawa that specializes in British food imports?

The Scottish and Irish Store in Bell's Corners (same strip mall as Lapointe's and Haveli's). They have a good selection of food, but I don't know about the cream.

www.ottawafoodies.com

I've seen it at Loblaws in Carlingwood & at College Square from time to time, it's not regularly stocked so it's best to call ahead to avoid disappointment.

Here's a link for making your own Devonshire Cream...the "real" recipe calls for unpasturized cream, which you may or may not be able to find (maybe in an organic groc store?). It also offers a "fake" alternative recipe if you can't find the unpasturied cream:

www.joyofbaking.com

aaaannnddd 2 more "fake" recipes:

allrecipes.com

allrecipes.com

If you make it off to the The Scottish and Irish Store, better bring the 'sterling'.

As they say 'over there' .... "Things are awful dear".

See 3a and 3b here, if need be.www.thefreedictionary.com/dear

Good thing they do not have a monopoly, or some of us colonists might dress up as Aboriginals, and toss their tea shipment into the harbour.






Then again.... it's a little less expensive than to get on board a British Airways 747 and go get the goodies, yourself.

I've seen devonshire cream before at the House of Cheese and International in the Market.

Worth taking a look if you're on the strip next time.

There is a shortage of Devon Cream in the region at the moment, it should be back in stores (most of the chains) mid March.

Let me finish my thought, I was multitasking as I wrote in last night, you wont find Devon Cream at the Scottish and Irish Shop in BC as they dont have the refrigeration. There is still Devon Cream in town, but the supply is getting pretty sparse, usually it is not a problem, the chain stores carry it in their Dairy Dept. often near the reqular cream.

I recenty (last week) saw it at either House of Cheese or International Cheese. Both are in the market and close to each other. Maybe worth a phone call or two.

and Clotted Cream is different.

Thanks for all the tips on where to find Devonshire cream. Though now I'm confused, what exactly is the difference between Devonshire cream and clotted cream? Is clotted cream thicker?

I found the jar of Double Devon cream at the Ottawa bagel shop and Herb and Spice yesterday. Except that it was $2 more at the Ottawa bagel shop ($6.99) than it was at H&S ($4.99).

Clotted cream is a thick yellow cream made by heating unpasteurized cow's milk and then leaving it in shallow pans for several hours. During this time, the cream content rises to the surface and forms 'clots'. Clotted cream purists prefer the milk to come from cows in the West Country, mainly from Devon and Cornwall. It has a minimum fat content of 55%.

Devonshire cream (DEHV-uhn-sheer) - Originally from Devonshire County, England, it is a thick, buttery cream often used as a topping for desserts. It is still a specialty of Devon, Cornwall, and Somerset, as this is where the right breed of cattle is raised with a high enough cream content to produce clotted cream. It is also known as Devon cream and clotted cream. Clotted cream has a consistency similar to soft butter. Before the days of pasteurization, the milk from the cows was left to stand for several hours so that the cream would rise to the top. Then this cream was skimmed and put into big pans. The pans were then floated in trays of constantly boiling water in a process known as scalding. The cream would then become much thicker and develop a golden crust, which is similar to butter. Today however, the cream is extracted by a separator, which extracts the cream as it is pumped from the dairy to the holding tank. The separator is a type of centrifuge, which extracts the surplus cream at the correct quantity so that the milk will still have enough cream to be classified as milk.

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Clarified ? like heated butter ? or info overload....

Looking for McVities Classic Rich Tea biscuits. I've only seen the one in the red packaging.

I'm not planning on making the royal cake, just eating it!!

The best place to look for these is at the Scottish and Irish store, there's one on St. Laurent and one in Bell's Corners. They have a large selection of British cookies. I've definitely seen these there before but I can't say for sure that they still have them.

Mrs. Mcgarrigle's in Merrickville has a selection of british food products and enough other interesting food items to make it worth a visit. I go out there a few times a year to find things like specific chile powders (ancho, guajillo etc.)
Also bulk barn has a small selection of british candies and cookies. I love the candies called "minstrels" which are like M&Ms only about 4 times the size.