Peach Melba Curd
Made using the same method as lemon curd, summer fruit curds are rich, delicate and perfumed. They won't keep for long, even in the fridge, so it's not worth making huge batches. The taste of this peach and raspberry curd is excellent, but the colour is not. I don't often suggest adding colouring to food, but in this instance it might be a good idea.
Makes: around 3 X 454g jars
Ingredients
3 medium peaches (or 2 large)
100g raspberries
1 large lemon, juiced and zest finely grated
325g caster sugar
175g unsalted butter, diced
5 large eggs
5 drops red food colouring
Method
- Skin the peaches and cut up roughly, discarding the stones. Put the peach flesh, any juice you can scrape up, the raspberries, lemon zest and juice into the processor and whizz until smooth. Measure out 300 ml of the fruit purée. If you happen to have had exceedingly large peaches and are left with a lot of purée, you can freeze it and blend it with yogurt to make an icy smoothie.
- Pour into a heatproof bowl and add the sugar and butter. Set over a pan of gently simmering water, making sure that the base of the bowl doesn't dip right down into the water. Stir until the butter has melted and the sugar has dissolved.
- Beat the eggs together, then tip into the hot fruit mixture. Stir constantly, still over the pan of water, until the mixture has thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon very thickly. Allow plenty of time for this (say 25 minutes) and make sure that the curds never heat up to anything approaching boiling point. If the water in the saucepan is boiling too fast, this could happen, so double-check that it is just simmering quietly.
- Once the mixture has thickened, lift the bowl out of the pan and sieve the curds to remove white threads and raspberry pips. Stir in the colouring if using. Pour the curd into warm, sterilised jars. Seal tightly, label and leave to cool. Store in the fridge.