Blackcurrant curd is a new one to me. We had a total glut of blackcurrants in our garden this year and I found myself at a bit of a loss about what to do with them all. I’m not a huge fan of blackcurrant jam and there are only so many ways I can work them into my meals! Thankfully I found help in Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall’s River Cottage Fruit Everyday book. I found recipes for blackcurrant liqueur (more about that later) and the most amazing recipe for blackcurrant curd. I am a massive fan of fruit curds. I’ve only ever tried them with citrus fruit (lemon curd anyone? Yum!) and I’ve never tried to make one myself.
Essentially a fruit curd differs from jam in that it incorporates eggs and sometimes butter. Â This recipe has both and is totally not in keeping with my efforts at being sugar free but I was too taken with the idea of a pot (or two) of lovely blackcurrant curd to care.
Making Blackcurrant Curd
The recipe calls for 500g blackcurrants to make 5 small jars of blackcurrant curd. We had tons of blackcurrants (did I mention we had a total glut this year?) so I used 1kg and doubled everything up accordingly. In retrospect that might have been a bad idea. Double the fruit meant I had double the work in squeezing out my blackcurrants. Blackcurrant seeds are pretty tiny, smaller than I thought.  I underestimated the size of the holes in my sieve and ended up with a lot of seeds coming through into my puree.
I really didn’t want to find seeds in my blackcurrant curd so I put my blackcurrant/lemon mix into a jelly bag and decided to squeeze them out. Â This took a long long time! I was squeezing blackcurrants through my jelly bag for about 45 mins and the place looked like a blood spattered mess by the time I had finished.
How not to make my mistakes!
My mum has advised me that I should have used the jelly bag or a square of muslin over my sieve and pushed it through that with a wooden spoon.  Alternatively I should have just pushed it all through my sieve and put the puree through the jelly bag to get rid of the seeds.  I clearly wasn’t thinking very clearly at the time but I have definitely learned what not to do for the next time. I have actually bought a better sieve for the next time but that is neither here nor there!
Doubling up the ingredients also meant that I had trouble getting my curd up to the right temperature to set. A bigger bowl has a bigger area for heat to be lost from and I didn’t want to put it on a high heat. Scambled egg curd? No thanks! All in all I had no real mishaps but making my blackcurrant curd did take me a full afternoon when I was expecting it to take an hour or two.
Serves 5
The most delicious blackcurrant curd. I haven't added in times as it took me about 4 hours to make without including time to pick the blackcurrants. However I doubled the recipe and that made everything take a lot longer than it should!
Ingredients
- 500g blackcurrants
- 100ml lemon juice
- 125g butter
- 500g granulated sugar
- 200ml strained beaten egg (approx 4-5 large eggs)
Method
- Sterilise 5 small jars (250-300ml). I like sterilizing my jars in the oven once they have been cleaned. My wee halogen oven has a pre-set sterilizing setting but approx 15mins in a low oven does the trick or run them through the dishwasher on hot if you're looking for a super easy way to sterlise! The jars should still be warm when you fill them.
- Place blackcurrants and lemon juice in a pot and simmer gently for approx 5-10mins until the blackcurrants have collapsed. Rub this mixture through a very fine sieve to remove skins and seeds or squeeze through a jelly bag into a heatproof bowl
- Add the butter and sugar to the bowl with the blackcurrant puree and place over a pan of hot water. Stir until the butter has melted and the sugar has dissolved and the mixture is smooth.
- Take your mix off the heat and let cool down for a minute or two.
- When the mixture has cooled to approx blood temperature (it shouldn't be hot or the eggs will scramble) add your eggs slowly whisking the whole time.
- Return your bowl to the heat and stir until thick and creamy. This will take at least 10 minutes and the mixture should reach 82-84°C on a sugar thermometer.
- Pour your curd into warm jars and seal. Allow them to cool completely.
- Store your curd in the fridge and use within approx 4 weeks.
My Tips!
I used a bit more sugar than was in the original recipe. Only because I didn’t want a tiny bit of sugar in a bag taking up room in my cupboard! There is scope to reduce the sugar a tad but it may make it harder to set. Also I used salted butter instead of the recommended unsalted because that’s what I had in my fridge. Â My blackcurrant curd is delicious so if you don’t want to buy unsalted butter just for this recipe just use the regular stuff!
I strongly recommend buying a sugar thermometer if you have any plans to try to make this. Â They are inexpensive (usually less than a tenner) and take a lot of headaches out of trying to get preserves to set. Mine is a much loved piece of kit!
What do you think of my blackcurrant curd? Â Would you try making it yourself and have you any ideas for using it up? More importantly do you have any other blackcurrant recipes for me to try?!