Most famous for their Cornish clotted cream, I actually can’t remember Rodda’s ever not being in my life. But that’s because I live down in Cornwall, pretty close to the place it’s made. So over the years I have seen them rebrand packaging from a traditional milk maid to the more representative Celtic artwork featuring said maid, but also a tin mine and Cornish choughs, they use now.

 When I lived in Japan, I worked in an area called Ginza, which was really fun because it was near to the biggest fish market in the world, the best Sushi restaurant on the planet and a heap of architecture that would have made Gaudí proud. This may seem more than a little tangential, but I mention it because also Ginza is the area of Tokyo where big money is. There’s an incredible neon Dior building, Swarovski stores, an actual English Harrod’s and the Japanese equivalent: Matsuya. For shits n giggles, on my lunch break, I used to go and visit Matsuya sometimes to get novelty products like English cheese. There’s only so much tofu you can handle! 😉

Anyway, I digress. Upon one lunchtime visit, nestled in an artisan cake maker’s stall I noticed a tiny “Bed and Breakfast” sized portion of Rodda’s cream sitting in the fridge. Now, these things are usually allocated for one cream tea. They must be about 50ml. OK, I checked: 40 apparently. My heart skipped a beat as I shiftily looked around, the way you do when you spot a fiver on the floor; fearful that someone else might take it! They didn’t. Possibly because it was priced at something outrageous like ¥1500 (£8) or perhaps because they just didn’t know how amazing clotted cream is.

On a whim, I bought it and two astronomically overpriced rocks, which were dressed up as scones.

Like the advert says, taking this home and being able to Skype my sister and nieces back in the UK to have a virtual cream tea, was priceless. That’s how good Rodda’s cream is. So when I got the chance to try several ‘udder’ (see what I…) products, I was pretty happy to say the least.

The Butter

A freshly opened pack of Rodda’s butter looks just like a ploughed field, and you kind of get the impression that that is the intention. How else can you make butter seem quite so farm fresh?

Thankfully, unlike most other things, it actually manages to carry this through into the taste, which is creamy and delicious with a good amount of salt; making it perfect for cooking but even better for spreading! Being brought up enveloped in the sea, I eat a lot of seafood. So using Cornish butter, made a matter of miles from my home, to cook my crab claws and scallops in was divine, especially adding some locally picked seaweed.

The Custard

I also tried their custard, which used Rodda’s cream and real vanilla pods. Now, I attended a school very close to the Devon border, where the Ambrosia factory is. According to the advert Devon knows how they make it so creamy. Well, Devon can keep that knowledge as far as I’m concerned because their tinned custard is nothing shy of insipid, whereas Rodda’s’ really was creamy, and vanilla-y and basically a joy to spoon over my fruit.

Naturally, I couldn’t resist making a posh bread and butter pudding, by pouring it all over some pannetone. It was the easiest ‘home made’ dessert, and went down a storm.

Availability

Luckily all Rodda’s products: from creamy fudge to melt-in-the-mouth shortbread and the cream, butter and custard are much easier to find in England, as they’re stocked in major supermarkets and can be order direct from the Rodda’s website.

More information

To find more information on their products, or to order some go to The Rodda’s Cream Shop

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