I found some bright red currents at the grocery this past week, and I could not resist bring some home.  Then came the process of figuring out what to do with them.  I hit my jelly quota with the rose hip jelly I made earlier in the month, and while I thoroughly enjoyed the black current sorbet being served up at a local restaurant, I was to lazy to mess with reorganizing my limited freezer space to create my own sorbet.  Yes, I suffer from selective laziness – I am too lazy to reorganize my freezer, but I spent the last three days painting the lawn furniture.  Then the idea of creating a red current curd began to take root, and once the thought crossed my mind I just had to follow it through to its end.  It turned out splendidly!  A beautiful velvety pink curd with a delicately bright taste.

Ingredients:

• 6 oz Red Currents
• 1 cup Sugar
• 1 cup Water
• the juice from 1 Lemon
• 1/2 cup (1stick) cubed Butter
• 2 Eggs + 1 Egg Yoke

Directions:

1. Place the red currents (sticks and all) into a sauce pan along with the water and the sugar.
2. Slowly boil the currents until they have cooked down into a syrup (~ 15-20 minutes).
3. Allow the syrup to cool slightly before passing it through a strainer to remove  all of the stems and seeds.
4. Place the current syrup back on the stove top, and melt in the butter.
5. Meanwhile, in a separate bowl beat the eggs and the egg yoke together.
6. Add the lemon juice to the current/butter mixture.
7. Once the butter, currents, and lemon juice have been fully combined reduce your heat to slightly below boiling.
8. This is the tricky part, you want to cook your eggs into the curd without curdling them.  The key to doing this properly is to keep a constantly eye on your heat, making sure that your pan doesn’t get to hot, and to stir/whisk the mixture constantly until you are ready to remove it from the heat.  Gradually add your eggs into curd, a little bit at a time, while continuing to stir.
9. Continue to stir your curd until it begins to thicken – this should take several minutes.
10. Remove you curd from the heat, and allow it to cool.
11. Store your curd in the refrigerator for up to a month.  I do not recommend canning it due to it’s dairy and egg content.  I also suggest using a clean spoon to scoop it out of its jar before serving.  This helps prevent it from getting contaminated and prolongs its shelf life.