Clotted Cream - A Type of Cream that Originated in the UK

I just read a post that mentioned clotted cream and I got curious about this English food.

Scones with clotted cream
Thanks to eatsmarter.de

Clotted cream is a thick cream with a yellow color and a sweet, rich nutty flavor. It is made from cow's milk with all the fats included. It is heated in high temperature until small clumps rise to the surface.

This method of cooking was done mainly to store the milk for long periods of time as there were no refrigerators at that time. This was done by diary farmers to minimize the amount discarded from the milk.

But why is clotted cream illegal in the US?

Clotted cream is illegal in the US simply because it is not pasteurized which means it did not undergo a strict preparation process to kill the bacteria found in the milk.

Pasteurization is the process of removing harmful bacteria from food to make the food safe to eat.