Butternut & Ginger Curd

With Christmas over, we can start to share a few more of the recipes and jars of goodies we made especially for our holiday gift boxes.  Well, each of our Christmas gift boxes was especially made for the recipient, (and, therefore, all slightly different) most of them will be enjoying this next delight…Butternut & Ginger Curd.

Butternut & Ginger Curd is truly one of our favorites…and it is a recipe that we are asked for time and time again. It comes from Gloria Nicol’s book Fruits of the Earth.  Gloria truly has mastered the art of making a beautifully, tasty, ohhhh so delicious curd; and, we highly recommend giving it a whirl. 

RECIPE FOR BUTTERNUT & GINGER CURD:

• 1 small butternut squash, peeled, and roughly chopped
• zest and juice of 1 lemon
• zest and juice of 1 orange
• 4 tbsp plus 1 tsp butter, preferably unsalted, cut into cubes
• 1 cup fine granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs plus 2 yolks, beaten
• 4 pieces of stem ginger, approximately 1 inch in diameter, finely chopped
• 3 tbsp syrup from the stem ginger

1. In a pan, place the cubed squash and 1/2 cup of water (add more water if necessary to prevent the squash from sticking to the bottom).  Cover and cook until tender.  Drain and discard excess liquid.
2. Purée the squash (we are now using our immersion blender for everything…it does a great job and makes clean up a synch).  Alternatively, use a food mill or food processor. 
3. Measure 1 1/4 cups of the squash purée and place  in a bowl over simmering water (or use a double boiler), pour the beaten eggs through a sieve onto the purée and add all remaining ingredients.  Using a wooden spoon stir the mixture until everything becomes well blended and the sugar has dissolved.  In the double boiler, continue to cook the curd on medium heat for 20-30 minutes, stirring frequently. It will be set and ready when it coats the back of the spoon. 
4. Pour the curd into hot sterilized jars, leaving 1/2″ headspace and process in a hot water bath for 15 minutes.

Please note: We have always processed our curd in a hot water bath (as outlined above) and stored the jars in a cool area until opened.  Once open, they must be placed in the refrigerator and eaten within a couple of weeks.  While, guidelines exist that caution home preserves about canning squashes (part of the pumpkin family) we are simply sharing our methods and do not expect you to substitute our judgement and practices for your own.  This curd can also be made and refrigerated. 

But, we will also note this…that on every batch tested our calibrated pH Meter reads no more than a pH of 3.89 and sometimes less which is well within the legal safety parameters (being less than a pH of 4.6) for safe water bath canning. 

Put up Total (we did a triple batch):

• 1 x 250mL regular mouth mason jar
• 5 x 250mL wide mouth mason jar