I love the seasons and the variety of produce that they bring to our plates. We have recently been enjoying blood orange season. You’ve gotta love blood oranges right? The vibrancy of their colours and distinctive rusty coloured skins are extraordinary, not to mention the fabulous flavour they have.
My favourite thing to make with them is curd. I can’t tell you how many oranges I went through to get this recipe how I wanted it – so many that the greengrocer was starting to ask questions and I was in danger of being asked to leave some for others! 🙂
I wanted something that was thick and silky. I played around with the number of eggs and yolks and the lemon juice. These first attempts were all too runny for my liking and weren’t really setting. I tried thickening with cornflour but that adversely affected the lovely rich orange colour of the curd and also had that distinctive cornflour pasty taste on the palette which wasn’t pleasant. I tried locust bean gum which is a natural thickening agent which was better but a bit to gloopy. I then tried arrowroot and it was a eureka moment. Yay! At last, it was how I wanted it.
And here’s another thing … Did you know you don’t have to put butter in curd? So, if you want something with less calories, this is a good secret to know! Butter does thicken the curd slightly on cooling and will extend the shelf life due to the fat content whilst also providing the creamy, silky finish to the curd. However, it doesn’t have any setting factor; that’s all provided by the eggs and lemon juice. If you wanted that silky finish and you couldn’t care less about the calories, then add 50g cubed butter at step 7.
If you can’t get blood oranges you can of course substitute normal oranges in the same quantity.
I hope you enjoy this recipe. Let me know how you get on making it!
Blood orange curd
Ingredients
- 250 ml blood orange juice approximately 4 oranges
- zest of 4 oranges
- 10 g arrowroot
- 125 g caster sugar
- 250 g whole eggs approx. 5 med eggs
- 20 ml lemon juice
- 50 g butter cubed (optional)
Instructions
- First sterilise the jam jars if using (see instructions below).
- Zest and juice the oranges.
- Mix the arrowroot with a little of the blood orange juice to a smooth runny liquid with no lumps. Set aside.
- Using an electric hand whisk, lightly whisk the sugar and eggs briefly until fully combined but not aerated otherwise the resulting curd will be more like and mousse like rather than silky and luxurious.
- Whisk in the lemon juice and orange juice. Then stir in the zest.
- Pour the mixture into a saucepan. Cook on a medium to high heat stirring continuously with a whisk until the mixture reaches 82C or has thickened and coats the back of a spoon.
- Remove from the heat and whisk in the arrowroot mixture. Continue whisking until smooth and thickened.
- Strain the curd through a fine sieve into a small bowl.
- Cover with cling film touching the surface. Chill until completely cold, preferably overnight. The curd will thicken as it cools. Then use as required.
- If storing it, put into sterilised jars and it will keep in the fridge for a couple of weeks.
Notes
- Preheat the oven to 140C.
- Wash the lids and jars in hot soapy water and rinse well.
- Place them upside down on a baking tray in the oven for about 30 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool before filling.
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