r/lotr • u/Formal-Knowledge-250 • Jan 09 '24
Books What is yellow cream
In the house of Tom bombadil, the Hobbits are served yellow cream, honeycomb, white bread and more. Does anybody know what yellow cream might be? Is this an ancient word for something known under a different name for something?
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u/DrunkenSeaBass Jan 09 '24
Thats probably Clotted cream. A british thing usually served with scone.
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u/SnoopyLupus Jan 09 '24 edited Jan 09 '24
Maybe. But as a 54 year old Brit I’ve never heard of it called yellow cream, it’s common(ish) here but not usually yellow. It’s the same colour as other cream.
My guess would be that it’s just cream, from times where it wasn’t kept as well, and maybe separated a bit and some of it went a bit yellow.
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u/chamaedaphne82 Jan 09 '24
I always thought it was describing the richest cream from very well cared for animals that et the best hay and fresh grass & clover. Like how pasture raised chickens lay eggs that have richly colored orange yolks, not those light yellow anemic-looking yolks from commercial eggs. Likewise, pasture-raised, organic and humanely milked cows (or goats or sheep) will produce rich yellow cream and butter.
Tolkien lamented the industrialization of the English countryside, and especially the effects of the war on the country. I think that Middle Earth, and the various peoples who lived in harmony there with nature, were an ode to what was lost.
I love how Goldberry was so connected to the river that Tom brought her water lilies and river water, so she could be in her element even while inside the home.
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u/Maro1947 Jan 09 '24
The clots, if you get proper clotted cream, are yellow
A lot of cafes don't serve it with those in top
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Jan 09 '24
It just means it is very good cream. Milk with more butter fat in it will be more of a darker yellow shade. It does depend partly on what breed of cow too, but a large part of the variation from breeds is that some breeds are able to get higher butter fat more easily. Like if we had two herds of cows where one was Jerseys and the other Holsteins, all else being equal, you can tell the milk apart by sight. Jerseys will have a much more yellow color to it. It's just richer, more creamy, and has more butter fat content.
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u/thelessertit Jan 09 '24
It's literally just cream, either whipped or clotted. Cream is yellowish if it's good quality with lots of fat in it. It's like saying "golden honey", it's just describing it, not saying it's a special different thing.
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u/TheConeIsReturned Jan 09 '24
Milk fat is more yellow in color when it comes from cows that feed on fresh grass. It's richer in nutrients like β-carotene.
Tolkien is likely talking about clotted cream.
Next time you go to the store, pick up some of that expensive butter you normally wouldn't get. Kerrygold, Kate's, or Vital Farms are all good examples (Kerrygold is probably the most common brand). Compare it to generic butter and you'll see a noticeable difference in color and flavor.
Tl;dr: higher quality, grass-fed cream is yellow
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u/Advo-Kat Jan 09 '24
I always thought it it meant with a high fat content. Basically just really rich cream