I really had not intended to make a golden raspberry curd but sometimes things don’t work out as planned.
I managed to score some late Summer golden raspberries during my latest foray to my local Tuesday farmers market. I wanted to use them as an after-school snack for my daughter. When I got them home and tasted them I realized they were going to be too tart for my sweet-toothed girl.
Inspiration hit. With 4 fresh egg yolks sitting the fridge, I thought immediately about a curd. Afterall, what else do you make with just egg yolks? ( The yolks were leftovers from an Italian meringue I had made a few days earlier.)
I’ve made lemon curd before using this excellent and easy recipe, which I decided to modify to suit the raspberries.
Getting the Raspberry Flavor Without the Seeds
First, I knew I had to extract as much flavor from the raspberries as I could without getting seeds and pulp in the juice. Instead of juicing them I thought it would be easier to simply boil them in some water briefly, mash them, then strain them in a fine mesh strainer. This worked well and I was able to get a little over a third of a cup of raspberry juice for my efforts. (The source recipe specified the same amount of lemon juice.)
Cutting the Sweetness of the Golden Raspberry Curd
Next, I cut the amount of sugar in the source recipe from 2/3 cup of sugar to 1/2 a cup. Less sugar would compensate for the sweeter fruit. Although these raspberries were pretty tart they were not nearly as sharp as lemon juice.
Finally, I also decided to add a very small amount of lime zest to the curd, only 1/4 of a teaspoon. My hope was the zest would add a little depth and some extra punch to the flavor without overpowering the raspberry flavor.
Cooking the Golden Raspberry Curb
I added the cooled raspberry juice to a homemade double boiler with the sugar, zest, egg yolks and a pinch of salt and started whisking away. The source recipe says whisk for 10 minutes so I set my timer for 8 and began to work. When the timer chirped I decided the curd was still too runny. I kept whisking another 7-8 minutes, after which the curd reached a fairly thick consistency. The source recipe says to whisk it to a consistency of hollandaise, and I thought more about the light brown gravy I make at Thanksgiving. Thick enough to not be too runny, but thin enough to pour.
Once it reached this stage I took it off the heat and whisked in the rest of the butter.
About That Color …
When all the butter was incorporated, I stood back and took a look. I’m not going to lie, I was pretty disappointed in the color. It was definitely a lot browner that I had anticipated. It almost looked like peanut butter. I could have added something to make the color more vibrant and appetizing. However, I don’t have a lot of experience mixing colors in food. And I know from experience in painting and art that mixing too many colors makes very unfortunate colors. So I decided to leave it alone. If you have any suggestions on improving the color, I’m all ears.
How Did the Golden Raspberry Curd Taste
The good news is despite its unfortunate color, the curd tasted really, really good. It has a nice raspberry forward flavor and because we cut the sugar down a bit it does not come off as too sweet. It also does not hit you with that same sharp lemon curd kapow. This is a more subtle flavor, where you can taste all the ingredients of the curd. It’s a different but still very pleasant flavor.
If you make it, let me know how it goes and especially let me know if you get the color better!
Golden Raspberry Curd
Equipment
- Double Boiler or Homemade equivalent
Ingredients
- ⅓ cup Juice of golden raspberries or red raspberries (Made from 2 cups of the whole fruit) I made this with raspberries that were a bit more tart than expected.
- ½ cup Granulated sugar
- 4 Egg yolks
- ¼ tsp Lime zest Optional - I was looking for more depth
- ¼ tsp Salt
- 6 tbsp Unsalted butter at room temperature, cut into 1 tbsp slices
Instructions
- Add 2 cups fresh golden raspberries (or red) to saucepan with ½ cup of water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and cook for 5 minutes, mushing raspberries into a pulp. Strain juice into bowl using fine mesh strainer and cool.
- Add egg yolks, cooled raspberry juice (1/3 cup), sugar, lime zest, and salt to double boiler or to glass bowl over a boiling pot of water. Whisk continuously for 10-15 minutes until curd has thickened to a consistency that resembles a thinner brown gravy. Keep whisking this but you can do it gently.
- Remove from heat and beat in room temperature butter 1 tbsp at a time until each has fully melted.
- Pour into airtight jar (like a mason jar) and cover or cover top of curd with plastic wrap and refrigerate until cold and set - about 2-3 hours.
