Show ends, but scones go on: CWA members reveal royal recipe

CWA volunteers are sharing their most prized secret recipes to help families pass the time in lockdown.

2 min read

July 15, 2020 - 12:00AM

The Weekly Times

<s1>Recipe for success: CWA members Joy Davis, Susan Campbell, Anne Wilson and Anne DuVe mix up the dough for their famous scones at last year’s Melbourne Show.</s1> Picture: Tim Carrafa

Recipe for success: CWA members Joy Davis, Susan Campbell, Anne Wilson and Anne DuVe mix up the dough for their famous scones at last year’s Melbourne Show. Picture: Tim Carrafa

COVID-19 might have locked down cities and states, but it has unlocked the long-held culinary secrets of the Victorian Country Women’s Association.

As families have been forced to hunker down under stage three restrictions, CWA Victoria’s 5000 volunteers have released a succession of their most cherished recipes, including those for the famous Royal Melbourne Show scones, Anzac biscuits and vanilla slice.

“Last week’s vanilla slice recipe got 20,000 hits and the Anzac biscuits 147,000 when we released it,” CWA executive director Lynne Jordan said.

But she admitted the scone dough recipe was a little harder to find on the CWA website, partly hidden under a recipe for a healthy beef and bean casserole.

And it’s not lemonade or sifting the flour six times that creates the state’s most sought-after scones.

It’s the simple addition of equal amounts of milk and cream, plus a bit of cornflour, which deliver the best scones in the nation’s top dairy state.

Ms Jordan said the CWA, like many volunteer organisations had taken a big hit to its fundraising campaigns in the wake of COVID-19 lockdowns with the cancellation of the 2020 Royal Melbourne Show, International Flower and Garden Show, biscuit sales at the ANZAC DAY races at Flemington and operations of its Umina bed & breakfast site in Toorak.

But despite the prospect of a $500,000 to $750,000 hole in the budget Ms Jordan said COVID-19 had proven just how resilient and supportive CWA volunteers were of each other and the wider community.

“We’ve got the last $500,000 of (state) drought funding to roll out and branches are meeting by zoom,” she said. “People are dropping off food at front doors and those who are vulnerable are cooking in their homes for younger ones to deliver.

“People are still connecting and sharing. I think the most positive things from this, are it reaffirms how important it is to take the time connect at a local level and that age isn’t as much of a barrier as we think.”

Other volunteer organisations are trying to find new ways to operate to protect their older and more vulnerable members, while still ensuring they can participate.

Victoria State Emergency Service is encouraging at risk members to consider not participating in any direct face-to-face VICSES activities.

But an SES spokeswoman said unit controllers were being encouraged to identify what other roles these members could perform remotely.

At risk is defined as anyone over 70 years of age, over 65 who have existing health condition or comorbidities, anyone with a compromised immune system or an Indigenous Australian over the age of 50 who has an existing health condition or comorbidities.

The CFA has released similar guidelines for volunteers, with the addition of temperature testing at some stations and crew limits, depending on location.