Lemon curd
Lemon curd is an emulsion, not a flour-thickened custard — there is no flour and no starch, and all its body comes from eggs and butter. That is why it is so sensitive to heat: above about 85°C the eggs start to scramble and you are left with sweet lemon egg. The fix is not complicated — low heat, constant stirring, and a sieve at the end that forgives small mistakes.
Your own work in that: 15 min.
- Preparation 10 min
- Cooking 15 min
- Jarring 15 min
Step by step
0 / 6 doneRub the zest into the sugar
Zest all five lemons and rub the zest into the sugar with your fingers until the sugar is damp and strongly fragrant. The sugar crystals tear open the cells of the zest and release the oils — zest dropped straight into a pan gives up far less.
Ingredients: 5 pcs lemons · 250 g sugar · 3 pcs eggs · 150 g butter · 1 pinch salt
The sugar turns damp and yellow — the oils are out.Whisk in eggs, yolks and juice
Add the eggs, yolks, salt and lemon juice to the sugar and whisk without beating air in. Air bubbles would stay in the finished curd and spoil its smoothness, and foam on the surface makes it harder to see when the mixture thickens.
Ingredients: 5 pcs lemons · 250 g sugar · 3 pcs eggs · 150 g butter · 1 pinch salt
Cook over low heat, stirring constantly
Pour into a heavy-based pan and heat gently, stirring with a spatula and reaching into the corners. After 10–12 minutes it thickens and the spatula leaves a clean trail on the base. If you have a thermometer: aim for 80–82°C, no higher.
Ingredients: 5 pcs lemons · 250 g sugar · 3 pcs eggs · 150 g butter · 1 pinch salt
A clean trail and about 82°C — take it off.Stir in cold butter off the heat
Take the pan off the heat and add the cold butter a cube at a time, stirring until each melts. Cold butter drops the temperature and stops the cooking — and at the same time forms the emulsion that gives the curd its gloss.
Ingredients: 5 pcs lemons · 250 g sugar · 3 pcs eggs · 150 g butter · 1 pinch salt
Push it through a sieve
Force the curd through a fine sieve. The zest and any set pieces of white stay behind. This is the safety net of the whole recipe — even slightly overheated curd comes out smooth after sieving.
Ingredients: 5 pcs lemons · 250 g sugar · 3 pcs eggs · 150 g butter · 1 pinch salt
The sieve rescues even slightly overheated curd.Pot into sterilised jars
Pour the hot curd into hot, sterilised jars, seal, cool and refrigerate. It thickens considerably further in the fridge — straight from the pan it seems too loose, and that is fine.
Ingredients: 5 pcs lemons · 250 g sugar · 3 pcs eggs · 150 g butter · 1 pinch salt
Before you start
A water bath for the cautious
If you are worried about the yolks, cook in a metal bowl over barely simmering water (the bowl must not touch the water). It takes longer, about 20–25 minutes, but the mixture heats gently and evenly, so it is much easier to catch the moment it thickens.
Keeping it
Up to two weeks in the fridge, up to three months in the freezer. This is not a cupboard preserve — eggs and butter rule out long storage at room temperature, however well you seal the jar.
Other citrus
Limes can replace the lemons in the same quantity. Grapefruit, passionfruit and orange also work but are less acidic — add the juice of one lemon to the batch, as without the acid the curd tastes flat and too sweet.