Lemon curd – making your own

Lemon curd
I love lemon. That lovely sour and fresh taste. And let’s be honest; a lemon must be one of the most versatile fruits out there. You can use it for making dressings, it is fabulous in tarts and cakes, delicious to give a sauce that little bit of extra depth and the list goes on. Tom always calls out – whenever we are watching Jamie Oliver cook – that he uses too many lemons. And yes ofcourse Jamie is a lemon lover but to me that is a plus!
So obviously Tom is not such a big fan of lemon and I always have to be careful not to make anything to sour. And to be honest this lemon curd is certainly not too acidic, as the sugar and the eggs remove quite a bit of that tang. But it is a million times better than the store bought variation. I do something use the lemon curd from Chivers. It’s an ok brand, but nothing beats your own homemade lemon curd. And as with the tomato chutney, once you make it yourself, you will find out how easy it is to do!
Lemon curd
Ingredients
- 3 lemons
- 280 g caster sugar
- 150 g butter at roomtemperature
- 6 eggs lightly beaten
Instructions
- Put the sugar into a medium stainless steel saucepan. Wash and dry the lemons, then finely grate the zest of 2 lemons, and add the zest to the sugar.
- Squeeze all 3 lemons. Pour the juice into the saucepan with the sugar, add the soft butter in pieces and the lightly beaten eggs. Place the smaller saucepan into a larger one, partly filled with hot water (au bain marie/double boiler) and simmer until the cream begins to thicken. Stir constantly with a wooden spoon. Never allow the curd to boil! it should only simmer very gently.
- Ladle the lemon curd into perfectly clean jam jars. Close the lids tightly and store in the fridge. Lemon curd is perishable because of the eggs, so don't store it for more then two weeks.
Disclaimer
The nutritional values above are calculated per portion. The details are based on standard nutritional tables and do not constitute a professional nutritional advice.