Prep Time : 15 + 5 Minutes | Cook Time : 10 Minutes | Total Time : 1 Hour | Difficulty : Easy
So part of my birthday tripping about with my bestie may have involved a raid on a friend’s lemon tree while they were at work. It’s not stealing if they weren’t going to use those lemons anyway… And then I had a pile of lemons that needed using up that were big and juicy at the end of summer! What better to do than make up one of my favourite preserves? This variation on lemon curd brings summery lemon and warm autumnal ginger together to make the tastiest, zingiest thing to ever say hello to a piece of toast. And you can trust me – I eat a lot of toast.
Lemon curd is in the family of things like custard where you can do away with a lot of the hocus pocus extra steps that you will often see, so long as you pay attention to what you’re doing. This recipe is adapted from a wonderful book by another amazing kiwi – Kylee Newton. She runs an artisan preserves business in London. Proceed gentle reader, and make the best lemon curd you’ve ever had!
The first thing you need to do is make sure the jars you are going to fill with curd are clean and sterilised. Wash the jars and lids in warm soapy water and rinse the insides with hot water to remove any soap residue. Dry the outside but don’t use the tea towel to dry the insides. Preheat the oven to 120C (230F). Place the jars and the lids inside and leave to heat for at least 15 minutes. Being kept over this temperature for a brief time will kill any bacteria that might be lurking which could spoil your curd more quickly. Set out a folded tea towel on the bench to put the hot jars on later. Always do at least one jar more than you think you will need just in case!
While the jars are in the oven, make the curd. We are going to pull the jars out just before we fill them so they’re nice and hot. Put the sugar and butter in a medium saucepan. Cut the pieces of ginger in half so you have four pieces in total. Bash them with a rolling pin or pestle so they are good and squished.
Pop them in with the butter and sugar. Whisk the eggs and lemon juice together in a bowl.
Strain into the saucepan with the other ingredients. Straining through a sieve will remove any lemon bits and any stringy bits of egg white.
Pop the saucepan onto a low heat and start whisking. The butter will slowly melt. Keep whisking. You will need to whisk the whole time. Chin up, it’s less than 10 minutes. The reason you need to whisk is the make sure the eggs cook slowly and evenly so your curd is smooth and silky. Heating the curd slowly also helps you to control the texture.
It will thicken steadily. The curd is ready when the first bloopy bubble of air or two surfaces through the thick curd. Immediately remove it from the heat. Pull out the chunks of ginger. Do you remember how many you put in?
Get your jars out of the oven, and use a funnel to fill them with curd, leaving about 5mm (1/4 inch) of room at the top. Make sure the rim of the jar is clean and screw the lids on straight away. Leave the jars to cool. This recipe makes enough to fill 2 1 cup jars with a small dish left over to enjoy while it’s still warm…
When the jars are at room temperature, transfer them to the fridge to store.
Enjoy your lemon curd on any and all things including, but not limited to – toast, scones, meringues, in a pavlova, swirled in porridge, in other baking, as filling for a tart or even straight out of the jar with a spoon…
Lemon + Ginger Curd
Prep Time : 15 + 5 mins | Cook Time : 10 mins | Total Time : 1 hour | Difficulty : Easy | Makes : 2 and a bit cups
Creamy luscious lemon curd with the extra warming zing of fresh ginger.
Ingredients:
- 3/4 cup (160 grams) caster sugar
- 1 stick (115 grams) butter, diced
- 2 thumb sized pieces of fresh ginger root
- 1 cup (240ml) lemon juice – about 4 to 6 large lemons
- 3 large eggs (NZ size 7)
- 2 large egg yolks
– If using metric cups, reduce volume measures by 1 tablespoon for every cup of dry or liquid ingredients –
Equipment:
- Glass jars and lids
- Medium saucepan
- Whisk, funnel and sieve
Directions:
The first thing you need to do is make sure the jars you are going to fill with curd are clean and sterilised. Wash the jars and lids in warm soapy water and rinse the insides with hot water to remove any soap residue. Dry the outside but don’t use a tea towel to dry the insides. Preheat the oven to 120C (230F). Place the jars and the lids inside and leave to heat for at least 15 minutes. Being kept over this temperature for a brief time will kill any bacteria that might be lurking which could spoil your curd more quickly. Set out a folded tea towel on the bench to put the hot jars on later. Do at least one more jar than you think you need.
While the jars are in the oven, make the curd. We are going to pull the jars out just before we fill them so they’re nice and hot. Put the sugar and butter in a medium saucepan. Cut the pieces of ginger in half so you have four pieces in total. Bash them with a rolling pin or pestle so they are good and squished.
Pop them in with the butter and sugar. Whisk the eggs and lemon juice together in a bowl and then strain into the saucepan. Straining through a sieve will remove any lemon bits and any stringy bits of egg white.
Pop the saucepan onto a low heat and start whisking. The butter will slowly melt. Keep whisking. You will need to whisk the whole time. But let’s face it, it’s less than 10 minutes. The reason you need to whisk is the make sure the eggs cook slowly and evenly so your curd is smooth and silky. Heating the curd slowly also helps you to control the texture.
It will thicken steadily. The curd is ready when the first bloopy bubble of air or two surfaces through the thick curd. Immediately remove it from the heat. Get your jars out of the oven, and use a funnel to fill them with curd, leaving about 5mm (1/4 inch) of room at the top. Make sure the rim of the jar is clean and screw the lids on straight away. Leave the jars to cool.
When the jars are at room temperature, transfer them to the fridge to store.
Enjoy your lemon curd on any and all things including but not limited to – toast, scones, meringues, in a pavlova, swirled in porridge, in other baking, as filling for a tart or even straight out of the jar with a spoon…
Cook’s Notes:
- This curd can be made with any citrus juice, just replace the lemon juice with an equal volume of another. Lime curd is particularly delicious with or without the ginger.
- You can leave the ginger out if you prefer, or even add a split vanilla bean instead.
- This curd is gluten free.
- Always get a few more lemons than you think you will need so you won’t get caught short of juice
– Lemon + Ginger Curd will keep for around 2 to 3 weeks in the fridge –
Adapted from The Modern Preserver.
© 2016 The Winsome Baker. All images & content are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If you want to republish this recipe, please re-write the recipe in your own words, or link back to this post for the recipe.
