Eltham creams world’s biggest scone record
20 Aug 2010
It’s official - the small Taranaki, New Zealand town of Eltham now holds the record for the world’s biggest scone.
Eltham, which already has a reputation for the delicious cheese scones sold at the local Four Square supermarket, broke the existing Guinness World Record with a giant 121kg scone - creaming the previous British record of 60kg.
It took 130kg of ingredients to create Eltham’s massive scone, which then spent seven hours baking in a purpose-built oven fuelled by two gas barbecues.
The town’s business association had been planning the event for three weeks, even including a ‘dry run’ two days previously that tipped the scales at 70kg.
The chief scone baker for the event, Annette McGregor, is the mother of Masterchef New Zealand winner Brett McGregor.
Community pulls together
Eltham Four Square owner and co-organiser of the event, Shaun McCarthy says that the record-breaking attempt was a real example of community spirit.
"This is an example of a real community pulling together to achieve something of significance. Eltham has a population of 1920 people and there would have been 200 of those involved in the record attempt and another 500 to support us tonight. That’s what Elthamites do - we support what we do in our lovely little town. It’s a fantastic community!"
The super-size scone didn’t go to waste after it was weighed by three different adjudicators in front of TV cameras. It was sliced up and sold for $1 a piece - the proceeds going towards refreshing Eltham’s water reservoir with a new coat of bright, cheesy-yellow paint.
Eltham’s water reservoir is famously painted to look like a giant round of cheese - a reminder to visitors of its crucial role in New Zealand’s cheese industry.
Cheesy little town
Eltham is known as the cradle of Taranaki dairy production, and remains a key player in New Zealand’s modern cheese industry.
Pioneering Chinese businessman Chew Chong first exported cheese from Eltham to Britain in 1884, putting the town at the forefront of New Zealand’s early refrigerated export industry. Mr Chew also built the town’s first dairy factory in 1887.
New Zealand dairy giant Mainland Cheese operates a large factory at Eltham that specialises in creating gourmet cheeses.
Visitors to the town can sample some of Taranaki’s finest gourmet cheeses from the Mainland Cheese Bar on Bridge St. The town holds many annual events that celebrate its cheesy heritage - including the Eltham Cheese Scone Baking competition, and the Downhill Cheese Race.
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