History of Scones

So beloved are English scones that several countries claim their origin.  Some believe they evolved from the Dutch biscuit, schoonbrot, meaning "beautiful bread," while others claim they originated in Scotland, and that the word, scone, was derived from Stone (scone) of Destiny, the site where the kings of Scotland were crowned.  Still others are certain that the first scones were baked in cast iron pots hanging in the kitchen fireplaces of rural England and Whales.

Another school of thought holds that the scone may have begun its journey as early 100 BC, when Roman bakers, known for their confectionery skills, improved on the tradition of throwing wheat at the bride and groom.  Instead, they baked the wheat into small, sweet biscuits, or scones.  However, reluctant to relinquish their fun, the wedding guests then began to toss the sweet biscuits at the bride, but eventually settled for crumbling the biscuits over the bride's head as the new couple ate a portion of the crumbs.  Variations of this theme lasted for hundreds of years and spread throughout the Old World.  Then, in the Middle Ages, a new custom emerged in the British Isles.  The wedding guests were asked to bake and bring their own biscuits to the ceremony.  The biscuits were then piled on top of each other, the higher the better, and the new couple exchanged a kiss over the mound, which symbolized their future prosperity.  Legend has it that in the 1660's a French chef visiting London came up with the idea of transforming the mountain of biscuits into an iced, multi-layered "wedding" cake.  From humble beginnings, sometimes a great notion.