Seville orange curd

Continuing with the Seville orange theme, I found a recipe (click on the link and it's about half way down the page) for Seville Orange Curd. It comes from the UK so measurements are different; the conversions shown below are my best guesses. Their recipe makes very little so I doubled it.

Ingredients for a double batch:

4 large sweet oranges (zest)

2 tbsp of the juice of the sweet orange

10 tbsp Seville orange juice - about 4 large oranges

2 tbsp lemon juice

450g sugar - about 2 to 2¼ cups depending on which website you believe. I used 2 cups.

230g butter - 1 cup

4 eggs

Containers to hold approximately 600g of curd

• Put the rind (grated carefully to avoid the pith), juice, butter and sugar in a bowl, sat in a saucepan of water.
• Turn on the hob (you can tell this recipe is not from North America) and bring the water up to a gentle bubble, stirring the contents of the bowl until the sugar has dissolved.
• Add the beaten eggs to the bowl and continue to stir. It may take up to half an hour for the curd to reach the consistency of custard. It is ready when the mix will stick to the back of a metal spoon.
• Take off the heat, leave to cool slightly and then spoon into sterile containers. 

All Seville oranges are not created equal. The large oranges in the foreground came from the Root Cellar. Later in the season, some of the Seville oranges at the Thrifty's store were quite small.

This shows how much juice I squeezed from four Seville oranges. Three weren't enough to yield 10 tablespoons' worth.

My makeshift double boiler - a pot inside a larger pot of water.

The recipe doesn't mention tempering the eggs. I found it worked better to add the beaten eggs to the mix and heat it all up together. Still, I strained the mixture - twice for good measure.

Even though the liquid sticks to the back of the spoon (not shown) and is thickening, I'd still like it a little thicker.

The curd can be jarred, although I understand it doesn't last as long as jam, and you can make tarts or pies with it. I did attempt, once, to carry on to make the pie mentioned in the recipe but my pie shell and meringue were disasters.

One day, I should make lemon curd and see if I can taste any difference between it and the orange curd.

http://www.countrylife.co.uk/blogs/article/529529/Perfect-Seville-orange-marmalade-recipe.html

First attempt at making marmalade

Until recently, I didn't know what a Seville orange was. I became intrigued when a friend was making marmalade and I learned that this seedy, bitter orange has a short winter season. Marmalade-making, then, is not something to be put off until June; in fact, some stores in town were out of Seville oranges by mid February. So, there was some urgency to try my hand at making marmalade if I was going to do it... even though I don't really care for the stuff and eat it only once in a blue moon.

Why Seville oranges? They have a higher pectin content than sweet oranges. (The different colours here are simply due to the lighting.)

Following my friend's recipe, I began with one lemon, one regular (sweet) orange, and six large Seville oranges. Also white sugar.

A lot of work is involved - depithing and cutting the peels into thin strips, boiling and stirring.

It's not a huge yield for all that work, but look at that beautiful dark amber colour. My marmalade was very thick, maybe a little too thick, and the peels were a bit 'al dente'. To my surprise, I quite liked it!