Perfect Curd this time !

I have made the 'Pumpkin and Ginger' Curd again, and this time it's perfect. I now know what I did wrong before, I had the water bubbling beneath the pan with the ingredients in far too hot, and the eggs curdled, also I grated the lemon and orange zest really fine this time. It was worth doing again as the texture is lovely and smooth (except for the bits of yummy stem ginger of course!).

Right texture below


Wrong Texture, what a difference !!

I think the difference in the colour is down to the lighting, not the actual curd.

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I don't know what the weather was like in your area today, but here it rained almost all afternoon, and I never got to do anything on the allotment as planned. It is sooo frustrating. I still have garlic to get in and another asparagus trench to dig and prepare. I did manage between downpours to dig up a couple of my favourite Dahlias from the garden. I am leaving some of the least favourite ones in the ground, but special ones are being dug up and the tubers stored in dry compost until next spring. I also have some in dry sawdust/wood shavings. I have to admit I didn't store them in anything last winter and they lay about in empty pots, but they survived. How do you store yours ? any suggestions would be welcomed.

HAVE A GOOD WEEK-END EVERYONE.

Pumpkin and Ginger Curd - made at last !

Well I got around to making the curd at last. I made the pumpkin puree yesterday and put it in the fridge and then made the curd today.

I used two medium squashes to make the puree, the recipe calls for butternut squash, but says any pumpkin or squash can be used. I cut the squashes into halves, removed the seeds and surrounding seed flesh then put the halves cut side down on the tray and baked them for
35-40 Min's until the flesh was soft. I then let them cool enough to handle and scooped the flesh out , put it in a blender and pureed it until thick and smooth. I made enough to make the curd and have some to make a pumpkin pie as well.

The finished Puree

The bottled Pumpkin and Ginger Curd
( it looks a bit like 'piccalilli' doesn't it ? )

I didn't like the texture of the curd, it has a curdled look, but it could be that you have to add the zest of a whole lemon and a whole orange and I may not have grated it finely enough, so maybe that's what has caused the texture.

However, I thought I had better taste and test it before posting details of it, and I have to say it is lovely. I added it to some plain yogurt and the ginger and the citrus flavours went really well with it.

When mixed with the yogurt it took on a custard colour, Mmmmm

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Small chillies which are very hot, that I grew lot's of and I'm now drying them. They are very small that's a small saucer they are on, just to give you an idea of the size.

Chillies (Pyramid) hot little devils !

This photo is of the Delphinium in my garden it has amazingly decided to grow and flower again after I had cut it right back to the ground a month or so ago, it's a lot smaller than it was earlier in the year, but still a welcome sight. It just shows how mild the weather is at the moment.

Delphinium defying the weather.