Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Lemon Curd















I used a recipe from JoyofBaking.com. For this batch I just made 3 small 4oz jars, just to test the taste and consistency of the finished product. The jars just pinged, so I know they are sealed, but I'll wait until morning to open one up and see the results. I used bottled lemon juice from Safeway for this recipe, just to see what kind of flavor it would produce. The remainder at the bottom of the bowl was tasty, but a bit light in flavor. I might have to use fresh-squeezed lemon juice for the next batch.

Here's the basic recipe:

3 large eggs
1/3 cup of lemon juice
3/4 cup of sugar
1 tablespoon of lemon zest
4 tablespoons of unsalted butter

I mixed the eggs, lemon juice and sugar with a wire wisk in the top of a double boiler over simmering water. Within 6 minutes the mixture was thick and I tried to put it through a sieve, but gave up and decided that it was smooth enough. Into the bowl with the lemon mixture I mixed the butter and the lemon zest. Once all the butter was incorporated, I put it into sterilized canning jars and placed it into the boiling water bath for 15 minutes. (I live at about 1400 feet above sea level.)

Note: there are instructions on the NCHFP site about how to safely can lemon curd. A critical piece of this is using bottled lemon juice. I did that and I found the curd to be positively delicious, even though I don't particularly care for the bottle lemon juice in other things. Here's a post about it: https://www.uga.edu/nchfp/papers/2006/06ift-lemoncurd.html and then a link to their recipe: http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/how/can_02/lemon_curd.html. The above recipe is just a variation.

6 comments:

  1. This sounds really yummy. I'm going to try it because I have quite a lot of bottled lemon juice in my refrigerator. In the winter time, we drink "Hot Lemon" (bottled lemon juice, thinned down with hot water, and sweetened with sugar) when we have a cold... So, I have all the ingredients on hand ;-).

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  2. Since lemon curd stays good so long in the fridge (3 weeks), I've never canned it. I've always worried about texture the next day (or week, or month). How did the sealed jars taste the next morning?

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  3. this sounds great! i'm glad to see a recipe for canned curd-thanks for posting! i read your links. i would be interested to see if anyone cans curd with fresh squeezed lemon juice--i too don't care for bottled juice.

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  4. The curd was delicious. I wouldn't use fresh lemon juice unless I was able to test the pH.

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  5. OMG! I've been looking for a BWB safe recipe for lemon curd! How have I missed this??

    This sounds divine, I am TOTALLY making this!

    Thanks!

    Kathy

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  6. Thank you! I was just discussing with my sister in law whether this was possible.

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