A Tale of Two Curds. First, Blackcurrant Curd
I’m really happy with this recipe, not least because I couldn’t find a recipe for it in any of my books and an internet search only turned up a recipe that included cooking apples.
I wanted a pure, unadulterated and intense curd.
Using La Lawson’s cranberry curd as a starting point, it yielded a great result.
The quantity is for 300g blackcurrants because that is the modest amount I yielded from my blackcurrant bush, but as that is a significant improvement on last year’s harvest and it’s only its second year of life, I can roll with that. If you harvest pounds and pounds of them, alter the quantities to suit you and prepare to distribute jars of joy throughout your community…
One small, yet significant detail before I start; despite the general use of a double boiler to make lemon curd, I always put it straight into the saucepan. I applied the same method to this and whilst the curd was great, it was too runny- in other words, fear had made me undercook it.
So I suggest returning to the traditional method of cooking it in a double boiler or sitting a Pyrex bowl over a pan of simmering water. A slower, but more sensible way of cooking it long enough to thicken it well without the fear of scrambling the egg or scorching it.
Remove the blackcurrants from their stems and place them and the water in a saucepan. (Don’t add any courgette, tomato or wild strawberries. That was just me basking in the wonderment of harvesting food from our own garden)
Bring to the boil and reduce to a simmer for 10 mins.
Remove from the heat and force the pulp through a nylon sieve into a bowl.
It will initially drain freely, then you have to keep rubbing the pulp into the sieve and keep scraping the thick goodies from the underside of the sieve with a knife. Discard the exhausted pulp
Pour the sieved blackcurrant purée into a double boiler (or a medium Pyrex bowl sat atop a pan of simmering water) and add the sugar and butter, stirring to melt it.
Remove the bowl from on top of the saucepan and add the beaten egg, stirring as you do so to avoid egg lumps. Shudder.
Return to the simmering pan of water and stir until it thickens; this could take at least 25 – 35 mins, if not longer. As you can see from the picture, it had thickened, but not enough – I relied on the cooling to set it, but it needed more cooking. It should be more puddingy than this.
Once it has thickened, decant it into two jam jars, cool and store in the fridge.
Or, as I did, take a jar to your Mum and Dad and hope that your Mum is thrilled enough to make something we can spread it on… Result! Scones!
Eat it within a couple of weeks. If it lasts that long… (see – it really is too runny, but the taste, well. Intense. Delicious.)
So after the success of this blackcurrant curd, my mind wandered to the possibility of other berried curds. Alex and I went for a walk by the river to check out the blackberries’ progress. We came away with a pound of them – sour as sloes, but they cooked up nicely. Blackberry curd to follow later!
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Blackcurrant Curd
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300g blackcurrants
125ml water
275-300g caster sugar
70g unsalted butter
3 eggs + 1 yolk
Place the blackcurrants and water in a saucepan, bring to the boil and then reduce heat to simmer for 10 minutes.
Remove from the heat and force the pulp through a nylon sieve into a bowl.
It will initially drain freely, then you have to keep rubbing the pulp into the sieve and keep scraping the thick goodies from the underside of the sieve with a knife. Discard the exhausted pulp.
Pour the sieved blackcurrant purée into a double boiler (or a medium Pyrex bowl sat atop a pan of simmering water) and add the sugar and butter, stirring to melt it.
Remove the bowl from on top of the saucepan and add the beaten egg, stirring well as you do so to avoid egg lumps.
Return to the simmering pan of water and stir until it thickens; this could take at least 25 – 35 mins, if not longer. If in doubt, spoon some on to a saucer and check that it doesn’t run all over the place. Also bear in mind that chilling it will thicken it up.
Once it has thickened, decant it into two jam jars, cool and store in the fridge for up to 3 weeks.
Lady, not only are you a fantastic cook, you’re now also an inventor. Hurrah! x
[...] with the blackcurrant curd, make a puree first by putting 450g blackberries in a saucepan with a splash of water, bringing to [...]
Aw stop it. Think I’d better bring you a jar, hey? x
Ooh yes please. Yummy x
[...] also found recipes for the following curds, some of which will eventually appear here. Apricot Blackcurrant – Recipe 1 Blackcurrant – Recipe 2 Clementine Chocolate & Chilli Coconut & Honey Elderberry [...]