Dark Days Does Meyer Lemon Curd

We live in the Pacific Northwest and while we know that we’re blessed to have access to year round produce and a freezer and pantry full of local foods, we still miss citrus. Mike and I aren’t shy about buying organic California citrus when we crave it, or when a bit of lime or lemon would make a dish measurably better, and we do so under the “trade route” exception. That said, we don’t buy very much and so when we have the chance to have really good citrus, we go for it.

Last week I was invited to speak at a conference in San Francisco for work. Anita and Cameron were generous enough to invite me to stay with them for the 5 nights prior. If you’re not aware, that violates the 3 day guests and fish rule by at least 2 nights. They get major points!

First thing Saturday morning we headed to the Ferry Plaza market and while Anita and Cameron were focused on groceries for the week, all I could focus on was 1) breakfast; 2) citrus; 3) citrus; 4) citrus; and 5) pepperoni. What can I say, I’m good at focus.

After a walk through the market, we made a couple of other quick stops and then headed home to pick a few more lemons and a bergamot off their backyard trees.

In the end we had a pretty impressive pile of bergamot (top), lemons (far left), melo gold grapefruit (under bergamot) and blood oranges. We then proceeded to spend about 4 hours making 4 citrus marmalade, meyer lemon marmalade and meyer lemon curd.In the end we had 17 half-pint jars of citrus preserves!

Anita will be posting our meyer lemon marmalade adventures later this week, the 4 citrus turned out just a bit bitter for me, but the meyer lemon curd? Oh my goodness, it was simply divine. I literally could have sat and ate it with a spoon (as Marisa did). I restrained myself and left the lemon curd deliciousness for Anita and Cameron and instead brought home almost 10 pounds of citrus in the form of meyer lemons, homegrown lemons and clementine oranges for Mike and I.

I’ll be making more lemon curd tomorrow night with our eggs and the lemons I brought back. Thank goodness that I found out that I can freeze it with no ill effect! There are numerous recipes out there for this curd, including the one that Marisa posted this week. The one below is the one that Anita and I used last weekend, and the one that I intend to use going forward.

I’m posting it almost verbatim from the original in case you don’t have access to the book. I’ve made a few notes as I went, in italics, to note things I plan to do differently next time.

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Image Courtesy of Married... with Dinner

Meyer Lemon Curd
from Blue Ribbon Preserves, By Linda J. Amendt

The recipe says that it makes 3 half-pint jars. We ended up with 5, perhaps because we didn’t strain it at the end.

superfine sugar :: 2 1/2 cups
Meyer lemon zest :: 1/2 cup
eggs :: 4 large
egg yolks :: 7 large
Meyer lemon juice :: 1 cup, strained (6-8 lemons)
unsalted butter :: 3/4 cup chilled, cut into 10 pieces

Place a medium glass or metal bowl in the fridge to chill.

In a small bowl, combine the superfine sugar and lemon zest, stirring until well blended. Let stand for 30 minutes to allow the sugar to pick up the flavor of the zest.

Fill the bottom of a double boiler about 1/4 full of water. We used a pan with a glass bowl set over. Bring the water to a gentle boil. I’d say more of a simmer as you don’t want to cook the eggs.

In the bowl the fits tightly in the pan you’re simmering water, or the top of your double boiler, lightly beat the whole eggs and egg yolks. Gradually add the sugar and zest until well blended. Stir in the lemon juice. Add the butter pieces.

Place the pan/bowl over the pan of simmering water. Make sure that the pan sits well above the water so the curd will be cook by the steam, not the water.

Slowly heat, stirring constantly but gently to prevent air bubbles. Scrape the bottom of the pan/bowl frequently to prevent scorching and curdling. Cook the mixture until it reaches a temperature of 168 to 170 F (about 5-7 minutes). Essentially you’re just trying to get it warm enough to pasteurize the eggs, melt the butter and thicken the curd.

Remove the pan/bowl from the simmering water and place it on a dish towel. Continue to stir until the curd thickens and coats the back of a metal spoon.

Remove chilled bowl from fridge. Place a fine meshed sieve over the bowl. Slowly pour the curd through the sieve and into the chilled bowl to strain the zest and any small bits of cooked egg. We skipped this step to preserve the texture of the zest.

To preserve the curd longer than the 10 – 14 days you get in the fridge, Ms Amendt provides pressure canning instructions. I’m not going to post them here as we didn’t pressure can it and I can’t vouch for them firsthand.

I’ve since found out from the extension office that you can freeze lemon curd without affecting the flavor. If you freeze in glass jars, be sure to leave enough head room to keep them from cracking.

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