Canning - Limelight-Island Curd

If there is one book you should check out regarding canning, it is this delightful Lip Smackin' Jams & Jellies by Amy and David Butler. You may recall me mentioning this book before, in my blog about my first attempt at canning which I used their recipe for Whole Strawberry Jam.

There are several recipes that I have my eye on trying in this book, and I finally got to trying this delicious limelight-island curd. Now, I have never made a "curd" before, and to be quite honest the thought seemed a bit daunting. Let me tell you firsthand, it is pretty easy, the only things you need to worry about are the freshness of the eggs used in the recipe and the amount of time you allow it to cook. If you overheat this one, you could end up with a funky taste due to the eggs. On that note, be sure it does not boil!

You may be wondering what you could do with a lime curd. Well, you could put it on scones, toast, add it to a cream pie, or put it in cupcakes or a cake! I plan/hope to use some of this lime curd in a cupcake recipe I found that normally calls for lemon curd. Or you can just have a spoonful of it as a treat.

To be honest, I had to freeze this stuff immediately as I would have probably eaten a 1/2 cup of it if I kept tasting it! It was just so good! Perhaps it was due to never trying a lime curd before, or maybe this recipe is just really perfect. I'm not sure, but I definitely hope you try this one. It almost reminds me of the filling on those wonderful lemon bars, sweet, citrusy and smooth.

The curd was supposed to have a little coconut flavor as well, but I'm thinking that the coconut milk we used (powdered) doesn't have quite the punch that regular coconut milk does. I hope you decide to try this, and if you do let me know what you think!

Please note that this recipe contains raw eggs! I don't believe this recipe gets quite hot enough to be entirely A-OK. I can't find the FDA warning, but If that makes you squeemish, please either avoid this recipe or locate some sort of pasteurized egg product.

Limelight-Island Curd

Ingredients:
-1 cup sugar
-Grated zest of 1 lime
-1/4 cup fresh lime juice
-1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
-4 whole eggs and 1 extra egg yolk
-10 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 1" pieces (I used my go-to salted and it seemed to be fine)
-Pinch of nutmeg (freshly ground hopefully! I need to do a blog post about nutmeg...)
-2 tablespoons coconut milk (we used powdered with added water to make a liquid)

Mix sugar, nutmeg and lime zest together in a bowl.
In non-reactive medium saucepan, add lemon and lime juices, eggs, egg yolk, butter, and sugar mixture. Combine.
Cook over medium heat for 4-5 minutes, stirring constantly.
Add coconut milk and cook until mixture is thickened.
Remove pan from the heat before it starts to boil.
Pour through a sieve into a bowl.
Cover top of curd with plastic wrap and refrigerate.
Alternately: Jar and seal in sterilized jars, but note that the curd will only hold 1 week in the refrigerator or can be frozen for up to 2 months. To use, defrost in refrigerator overnight.
This made approximately 1 pint of curd.

Comments

Popular Posts