The British Indian Ocean Territory is our next Tastily Touring stop. And, once again we are in a part of the world that is uninhabited. The BIOT also known as the Chagos Islands is an overseas territory of the United Kingdom that consists of six main island groups that comprise the Chagos Archipelago. There are about one thousand tiny islands with 23 total square miles. The largest island is home to a UK/US joint naval support facility. The remaining islands are uninhabited.
BIOT is located in the Indian Ocean between Africa and Indonesia. These islands were charted by Vasco da Gama in the early 1500’s and then claimed by France, becoming a possession of the Mauritius. Eventually agricultural workers (some of them slaves) were brought to the islands to work plantations. These workers were eventually known as Chagossians.
In 1810 the United Kingdome captured Mauritius and France gave over the territory in the Treaty of Paris. By the 1970’s the agricultural workers were relocated to Mauritius and Lawsuits were also filed by the islanders seeking the right to return to the territory, which was denied and by 2004, on the largest island of Diego Garcia the joint naval facility almost 4000 UK and US military and civilian personnel resided on the island.
Information regarding foods eaten by the Chagossians is not readily available so since the BIOT is a territory of the UK we decided to go with one of our favorites for breakfast or far an afternoon tea. Scones with jam are a perfect breakfast or snack choice. They are especially good with fresh, homemade strawberry jam as it is that time of year when strawberries are plentiful. Try them with a bit of clotted cream for a completely British experience.
Scones (Alton Brown)
Ingredients
2 cups flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup sugar
4 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons shortening
3/4 cup cream
1 egg
Handful dried currants, cranberries or raisins
Directions
1. Heat oven to 375 degrees.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Mix well. Cut in butter and shortening. In a separate bowl, combine cream with beaten egg then add to dry ingredients. Stir in fruit.
3. Turn dough out onto a floured surface. Roll dough out and cut into biscuit size rounds. Bake for 15 minutes or until brown
Clotted Cream (Alton Brown)
Ingredients
2 cups pasteurized (not ultra-pasteurized) cream
Directions
1. Set a coffee filter basket, lined with a filter, in a strainer, over a bowl.
2. Pour the cream almost to the top of the filter. Refrigerate for 2 hours.
3. The whey will sink to the bottom passing through the filter leaving a ring of clotted cream. Scrape this down with a rubber spatula and repeat every couple of hours until the mass reaches the consistency of soft cream cheese.
Make sure you use pasteurized cream NOT ultra-pasteurized. The recipe is not going to work if you use ultra-pasteurized. Also, there are other recipes that are more traditional and the cream is cooked in the oven at a very low temperature for a very long time. We like this recipe during warm weather so that we do not have to leave the oven on for longer than it takes to bake the scones.
Click here for directions on how to make strawberry jam.
Photography Data:
Featured Photographer
Daniel Gilbey
ApertureFNumber: f/5.0
Make: Canon
Model: Canon EOS 5D
ExposureTime: 1/15
FNumber: 5/1
ExposureProgram: 3
ISOSpeedRatings: 100
MeteringMode: 0
Flash: 16
Christine
May 15, 2012 at 11:23 am //
Enjoyed reading this post. I love scones.
myfudo
May 17, 2012 at 7:38 am //
Wonderful, thank you Christine.
Blair K.
May 15, 2012 at 12:17 pm //
Looks great!
myfudo
May 17, 2012 at 7:39 am //
= )
Purabi Naha
May 15, 2012 at 1:08 pm //
Wow! Fantastic pictures and even better, fantastic suggestions for making this perfectly. My husband would be in heaven with that!
myfudo
May 17, 2012 at 7:39 am //
We totally adore Alton Brown, his recipes are always spot on.
balvinder ( Neetu)
May 15, 2012 at 1:13 pm //
It was nice to know about Chagossians, honestly I have never heard about these people.
Anyways the scones are definitely good and Alton brown is one of my favorite chef.
myfudo
May 17, 2012 at 7:40 am //
We surprise ourselves when we are poking around doing research for a post, it really amazes us (well does not amaze us, there is so much we don’t know, they came out wrong, but you know what we mean) “wink”.
It is amazing about some of the history and such we find while doing research.
Alana
May 15, 2012 at 9:57 pm //
I’m loving your little food histories! Your scones and photos look gorgeous, as always. So fresh and fab!
myfudo
May 17, 2012 at 7:38 am //
So happy you are enjoying the bits on history = )
myfudo
May 17, 2012 at 7:41 am //
It is amazing about some of the history we find while doing research of a post or our Tastily Touring adventures.
Kelly
May 16, 2012 at 3:12 am //
What a fabulous recipe, these look absolutely delicious! :)
myfudo
May 17, 2012 at 7:38 am //
Thank you.
Denise
May 16, 2012 at 6:04 pm //
I love a good scone (not a cake in scone form and not the dry thing you sometimes get!) and these look perfect. Love the pictures:)
myfudo
May 17, 2012 at 7:38 am //
Yes, yes very true, for years we had been buying from various cafe’s, starbucks, etc, most of the time they are good, other times, we need to give it a push in the microwave (hard as a rock) or super, super dry and down with a glass of tall milk.
Chung-Ah | Damn Delicious
May 16, 2012 at 6:56 pm //
The scones look absolutely flawless! They’d be perfect for breakfast-on-the-go.
myfudo
May 17, 2012 at 7:37 am //
If they weren’t calorie laden… it would be totally do-able for breakie everyday!
Angie@Angie's Recipes
May 16, 2012 at 7:48 pm //
Love scones. These look perfect!
myfudo
May 17, 2012 at 7:36 am //
Thank you Angie.
the food dude
May 16, 2012 at 7:51 pm //
These scones look awesome, perfect for afternoon tea. I enjoyed reading about the BIOT, I’ve heard about Diego Garcia as a strategic military base, but first time to hear about Chagossians, interesting post!
myfudo
May 17, 2012 at 7:36 am //
Thank you so much, we are so glad you are enjoying the bits on some history, sometimes we are really amazed when we set out to do a post, and what we find during our research.
ATasteOfMadness
May 16, 2012 at 9:20 pm //
These scones look mouthwatering! I JUST made scones last night, but they looked nowhere as delicious as this! Yum!
myfudo
May 17, 2012 at 7:35 am //
Aren’t scones the best, for YEARS we had been buying them from Cafe’s, Starbucks, etc, sometimes they are great, and other times, a bit of a gamble.
Baker Street
May 17, 2012 at 12:18 am //
Lovely scones, gorgeous picture! Love the idea of clotted cream and berries with my scones.
myfudo
May 17, 2012 at 7:34 am //
WE love, love clotted cream, (we tend to buy it sometimes sssshhhh) “wink”
Jenn and Seth (@HomeSkilletCook)
May 17, 2012 at 4:25 am //
your scones are gorgeous! i need to try this and that clotted cream, sounds so delicious!
myfudo
May 17, 2012 at 7:34 am //
Nom nom nom = )