Lemon Curd

    Today I was very brave. I made Lemon Curd. I had heard (on my many jam related searches on the internet) that lemon curd was really difficult, people said that their curd went lumpy and curdled or didn't set at all, that it tasted funny, turned a gross colour, you name it it seemed like it happened. In fact The Curd has a bit of an online reputation of being a real challenge. So I avoided it, I mean it has eggs in it, so I figured it had to be difficult, I'm used to standard issue fruit and sugar preserves, eggs just complicate things.
    But on a trip to Bolsover Castle (a weekend adventure with my hubby) a free sample of local Lemon Curd was on offer and I tried some and it was tasty and I immediately desired a jar or two for my fridge. It was a bit of a gross day outside, perfect weather for slaving away in the kitchen, so when we got home I decided I would check my Jam Book for a recipe and obviously there was one, because there's a recipe in this book for just about everything (including kumquats). Tom graciously agreed to drive me up to Tesco for supplies and even handed over £5 for the Curd cause.
    I took a deep breath and decided I had better follow all the directions exactly (I seem to have a hard time doing this). I even purchased enough supplies for a second attempt, convinced I would fail the first time. Here's the recipe I used:

Lemon Curd

Note to self: get one of those juicer things where
the bottom attaches to form a bowl.

2/3 cup lemon juice - filtered, no bits floating around in there and the zest of 1 lemon (optional)
1 cup sugar
6 Tbsp unsalted butter
2 eggs
2 egg yolks  

    The recipe suggested that although you can make lemon curd in a saucepan, a double boiler was suggested to make sure it cooked more evenly. so I set up a makeshift one with a saucepan of simmering water and a glass bowl that fit nicely inside it. I melted the 6 Tbsp. of butter in the glass bowl.
    While the butter melted I beat (technically I suppose I whisked, since I used a whisk) the eggs and egg yolks till they were smooth then added in the lemon juice and mixed this until it was smooth.
    Back to my butter on the double boiler, once it was melted I added the sugar gave it a stir and then stirred in the lemon and egg mixture. I carried on stirring this mix over medium-low heat for about 5-10 minutes until it thickened. The test was to dip a spoon in the mix then draw a line across the back of the spoon. When the curd holds the line and doesn't infill it then it's done (also I checked it was a thermometer, 160 F). You can add in the lemon zest at this point if you want, I did. Then it was into some jars, lids on, labels and left to cool for a bit before they went into the fridge.

The finished curd, yum!

    And, guess what, it really was that simple! No curdling, no failure to set, it's still very much yellow and it tastes like Lemon Curd! So I'm not sure where all these chat room sorts are going wrong, unless the secret really is the double boiler method. I can see how a regular saucepan might cause some problems, you'd have to really work hard to regulate the temperature and make sure it cooked evenly. But altogether it took me about half an hour and it was one of the cheapest preserves I've managed to date, less than £5 and I still have enough supplies left to make a second batch!. I got three small jars of curd from this recipe and it tastes lovely, although I did have to make a batch of scones quickly so I could test it out.
    So if you've been avoiding the Curd challenge because you too have been intimidated by it's online reputation as being a difficult beast to master, I strongly encourage you to have a go at it, it's not so scary after all.