My pantry shelves a pretty well loaded with jams, jellies but, unfortunately the lemon curd has vanished. The last jar of the Meyer Lemon curd went to my daughter in California and shared with my grandkids. My granddaughter sent me a text message this morning after the gift package arrived – “Please send more liquid gold….AKA lemon curd… It is amazing and I want to eat the whole jar but am required to share”. I shared with her a comment from one of my readers, Claire, a blogger from the UK. Claire’s favorite way to use and enjoy lemon curd is by the spoonful directly from the jar! I second that advice! See what Claire has to say and share. http://promenadeplantings.com/
On my shelf I do have some jars of rose petal jelly, beautiful in color but short on “rose” flavor. I made two batches of Pomegranate jelly, one from store bought juice and the other by extracting the juice myself….both were good but the home extracted juice gave the jelly a little more of a robust flavor. One jar remains of my Serrano Pepper jelly and one small jar of the Port Wine jelly with Rosemary. The Mother Lode is this year’s strawberry harvest. It is so good!
The last batch I chose to make in a chunky style. Chunky meaning I did not fully, completely, energetically mash and destroy the body of the berries. I like the results! My son does not appear to like it as well as the abused berry crushing approach! Why do I like it? It is more like enjoying the fruit as well as the jam. I always make the low sugar recipe version, i.e., 4 cups of sugar vs. the 6 or 7 called for in the full sugar recipes. I think the low sugar recipe allows more of the base fruit flavor to come through in the process. I can’t wait until the blackberries kick in.
Gently mashing the berries for the “chunky” jam.
The results. In the bowl is the foam scraped off before canning. My wife adds it to her oatmeal & egg white breakfast frittata.
My biggest berry of the season – a double butterfly strawberry.
Strawberries are still showing up in the garden, none of them make it into the house! I love to putter in the garden and snack on the fresh stuff. The sugar snaps, small asparagus, a carrot that escaped the clean-up of the beds. I had a couple of the miniscule Alpine berries this morning, two Pineberries and a few sugar snap pea pods. I also chopped up a cup of kale and added it to the blender with 6 oz. of orange juice, 1 cup of frozen pineapple, 1/2 cup of plain Greek Yogurt, a tbsp. of ground flax and a dash of nutmeg. Very tasty for such a healthy smoothie. PS, I used 50% less calorie orange juice….still had a great taste.
TTFN
Bishop
May 01, 2013 @ 19:06:16
Bish:
I also agree the best way to eat lemon curd is straight from the jar. I am so envious of your gardening (and writing) skills. My Bako garden is so pathetic. Every year I say “no more” but then the bug gets me and I have to plant something. I must try your Port Wine with Rosemary recipe. I get the berries at the coast.
Received the photo you sent. BEAUTIFUL! Such a large one too. I’m on the trail for the right frame to enhance it. Thanks so much. Let me know next time you’re on the coast (or Bakersfield) Love to meet up. Dixie and I visited Aunt Glo last week and had a fun visit. I had some film put on a CD, not knowing what it was, and got pictures of grandpa, mom & dad, Bill & Dorthy’s wedding , me learing to walk and others. It was a nice surprise. Now I’m going to do the same with all the rest of the film. They aren’t much use in film form.
Have fun in the garden.
Love, CeCe
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May 02, 2013 @ 01:35:52
LOVED YOUR LATEST POST, HOWEVER I’M UPSET THAT I DID NOT GET ANY LEMON CURD!!! MAYBE NEXT TIME. DID NOT SEE THE COMMENT FROM THE UK LADY. PS–I VOTED FOR EUGENE (NO FOR JOE) OXOXOMOM
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May 02, 2013 @ 14:35:14
I didn’t think you liked lemons!
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