This delicious curd is the colour of sunshine, in fact it tastes like a sunny day in the garden. Dandelions are good to pick now that my garden has an abundance of nectar rich flowers for the bees, and they lend a delicate honey flavour to this curd’s citrusy zest.
I could happily eat this stuff straight from the jar, but society would have me believe that I need to spread it on something – which I do! Toast, crumpets, bagels – all delicious. It also works well drizzled over ice-cream or slathered in between layers of cake.
You Will Need *makes around 2.5 medium jars
Juice and zest of 2 lemons
Juice and zest of 2 small oranges
2 eggs (yolks and whites)
3 egg yolks
100g / 3 1/2oz unsalted butter
200g / 7oz caster sugar
25 dandelions
Method
- It’s best to pick your dandelions from areas where they’re unlikley to have been peed on by dogs. Pick them when they’re fully open and fresh
- Set up a bain-marie. Place a glass bowl over a pan of water. Heat the water to a boil
- While the water boils, zest and juice the fruit and pop it in the bowl with the caster sugar – mix well
- Chop the butter into cubes and add it to the bowl
- Shake out your dandelions to remove any bugs that might have hitched a ride
- Pull out the petals and add them to the bowl
- Keep mixing until the butter melts
- In a separate bowl or jug, whisk the eggs and egg yolks
- Slowly add the egg to the bowl, mixing all the time. The warm mixture will cook the egg if you do this too quickly and you’ll end up with bits of scrambled egg in your curd!
- Keep heating and mixing the curd until it becomes smooth and thick – this will take around ten minutes. The curd is ready when it coats the back of a spoon
- Push the curd through a sieve to remove the dandelion petals and any unfortunate bits of scrambled egg!
- Allow the curd to cool completely and then spoon into sterilised jars
- Label and refrigerate the curd until you’re ready to use it
Phill refuses to eat anything with the word curd in it but I think its one of my favourite things to eat. And this recipe produces a really beautiful end product. If you decorate the jars with pretty fabric and labels, they’d make lovely gifts.
Love Rachel ❤
