Far East to get taste 
of a very British tea
ceremony

THEY are a delicacy more usually associated with the tea rooms of Skipton than those of Shanghai.
Bridget Pearson of Chinese communications business, 'Your Bridge to China' with Padgett's executive manager Rebecca Padgett.Bridget Pearson of Chinese communications business, 'Your Bridge to China' with Padgett's executive manager Rebecca Padgett.
Bridget Pearson of Chinese communications business, 'Your Bridge to China' with Padgett's executive manager Rebecca Padgett.

But all that could be about to change, as the UK’s largest manufacturer of scones prepares to take its produce some 5,000 miles from its base in Barnsley to an international trade fair in China.

Representatives from the Haywood and Padgett bakery hope that Chinese buyers will snap up their scones, opening up the firm to a potential market of millions.

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The company, based on the Carlton Industrial Estate, will be exhibiting their wares at the Guangzhou International Food Trade Fair between Tuesday and Thursday next week.

With them will be a local businesswoman, Bridget Pearson, the founder of the Chinese communications business Your Bridge to China, who has been researching how best to promote scones in the country.

Miss Pearson, from Silkstone, said: “We have found that there is not a lot of competition for scones in China as it is a relatively new product to the market.

“I think it is important at this stage to keep the product exactly as it is and explain to Chinese people about our culture around the traditional English afternoon tea.”

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During the trip, Miss Pearson will act as a cultural guide and interpreter for the delegation from Haywood and Padgett.

The 24-year-old has also supported the company in the preparation for the trade visit by carrying out market research with Chinese students at Sheffield Hallam University.

“The research was really interesting as the students came up with lots of different opinions,” she said.

“One outcome was that the savoury, cheese scones, weren’t anywhere near as popular as the sweet ones. I think that’s mainly because cheese isn’t used so much in China, and it’s a taste that the students’ palates weren’t as used to.

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“One thing they did suggest, though was adding a spicy sausage to a cheese scone – I wasn’t so sure about that.

“They also suggested that English scones could potentially take off as a breakfast dish.”

Haywood and Padgett was established 29 years ago in a small bakery in Wombwell.

It is now the UK’s largest scone manufacturer and supplies supermarket giants including Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons.

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During the Chinese trip, they will give specially-produced gifts, made from coal, to potential buyers, to mark the start of an ongoing business relationship.

Managing director Wayne Padgett said: “As a company, we are proud to celebrate our Barnsley roots, so we are taking special gifts made with coal to China to represent Barnsley’s long history of coal mining.”

Miss Pearson said that the attempt to crack the Chinese market will be “exciting”, and added: “It’s quite a new product to Chinese people and, generally, they don’t have as much of a sweet tooth as we do.

“Pudding isn’t usually eaten after main meals, for example.

“But, saying that, Chinese people are becoming more Westernised in their tastes and, in places like Shanghai, there are lots of international businesspeople.

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“Young people are also getting ideas from the West and there’s more demand for Western foods, which are seen as good quality.

“It’s going to be interesting as it is something so new but I really do think that, in certain parts of China, scones have a huge potential.”

Haywood and Padgett’s attempt to convince the world’s most famous tea drinkers to have a scone with their brew comes just days after a Sheffield University academic cracked the science behind the perfect cream tea.

The Yorkshire Post revealed on Tuesday that Dr Eugenia Cheng, from the university’s school of mathematics and statistics, had cooked up a formula for what she claims is the ideal combination of scones, jam and cream.

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Using a 2:1:1 weight ratio, with which an average 70g scone would require 35g of jam and 35g of cream, Dr Cheng’s equation uses the radius of the scone to calculate how thickly the accompaniments should be spread.

Dr Cheng said: “Building a good scone is like building a good sandcastle – you need a wider base, and then it needs to get narrower as it goes up so that it doesn’t collapse or drip. A rim of around 5mm is required around the jam, to prevent mess, and then a further rim of 5mm for when the cream is placed on top of the jam.”

The total thickness of the scone, with all its elements, should be around 2.8cm to allow for a relaxed open width of the mouth, the research found. And the jam should be spread on first as it is less dense than the cream – which should be clotted rather than whipped – and could otherwise run off, Dr Cheng concluded.

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