What became of the lemons that arrived on our doorstep
The jar contains the beginning of the limoncello. The juice became lemon curd, also known as liquid sunshine. The limoncello will have to sit in the pantry for another month or so before we do anything else with it, so it can wait.
Joel’s mom happened to be visiting for the day so she helped me juice and zest all the lemons. In the middle of our juicing and zesting, Marilouise stopped by.
She was very curious about the lemon juice, and ended up drinking quite a bit. What a kid.
Anyways, the lemon curd. I am serious about this stuff. The last couple years that we’ve spent the winter in Palm Springs, I have come home with a veritable heap of the curd to last me through the next few months of winter. Add another thing to the list that made me sad we weren’t in Palm Springs this winter - the lack of lemon trees in my back yard.
I got this recipe from my aunt Brenda a few years ago - when we were first in Palm Springs and I realized we had an abundance if citrus right in our backyard. It is seriously the best lemon curd ever.
Aunt Brenda’s Lemon Curd
4 egg yolks
2 whole eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
Zests of two lemons (about two teaspoons)
4 teaspoons butter
Whisk together yolks and eggs, and then set aside.
Bring to boil sugar, juice, and zest in a sauce pan. Remove from heat. (If you want a smooth curd, strain out zest now.)
This next step can be a little tricky, but it’s the key to your curd’s success. Slowly drizzle some of the hot syrup mixture into eggs, whisking continually. (If you don’t whisk continually you will accidentally scramble your eggs. That would be gross.) Whisk in enough of the hot syrup to warm the eggs up. Then transfer the warmed egg mixture back to sauce pan whisking continually to incorporate the rest of the syrup into the eggs. Add butter.
Heat mixture on low temperature until thickened.
You can refrigerate the curd once it has cooled - or you could can it while it’s still hot. I’ve never had trouble canning lemon curd, even though it has eggs in it. But I also usually eat everything I’ve made in about 6 months.
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