Blood Orange and Lavender Curd



I always look forward to blood orange season. These little jewels brighten the starkness of the mid-winter snow and ice. After trudging through the snow, I arrive home with my precious cargo. I take off my snow boots, my snow covered coat and hat and hang them above the heater to dry. I set the oranges in a hanging basket in the window and I begin to search around the kitchen for inspiration. While searching through cupboards, pantry and spice racks, I see hanging above the basket a bunch of dried lavender, plucked from my garden on a warm summer day. After flipping through over 20 curd recipes, I came up with my recipe for Blood Orange and Lavender Curd. This lovely curd is perfect for cakes, pastries, pies, or slathered on a fresh baked piece of rye bread. 

What You'll Need:

zest of 2 blood oranges
1 cup fresh blood orange juice (about 4 oranges should do the trick)
1 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cups butter, cut into pieces
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons dried lavender flowers
6 egg yolks


  1. Place all the ingredients in the top of a double boiler (or do what I do and use a metal bowl on top of a sauce pot filled with about 2" of water).
  2. Cook over high heat and whisk until the butter is melted and the ingredients are combined. Once the butter has melted, cook, whisking constantly, for another 10 minutes until thickened. 
  3. To test if the curd is done, coat the back of a wooden spoon with the curd and draw a line with your finger. If the curd falls back in on the line, it is not ready. However, if the line stays clear, the curd is ready.
  4. Pour the curd over a fine mesh sieve into a clean bowl. This curd can be canned and kept for 1 year, or refrigerated for up to 2 weeks.


Yield: About 3 cups

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