How to make Lemon Curd.

There's something about Lemon Curd that makes it so luscious, so delicious. Its a magical mixture of tart Lemonyness, sweet Sugar & creamy Egg yolks that makes it like the Chocolate of Citrus lovers, the ultimate for any Citrus Enthusiast. Made by gently cooking a mixture of fresh Lemon juice, Sugar, Butter & Eggs until thickened, its simplicity makes it even more attractive. Lemon Curd is divine on buttered toast, a simple and perfect way to appreciate the curd's cool, satiny texture. It also makes an easy and delicious filling for tarts, cakes & desserts. Its tart Lemon flavour makes it a great ingredient to balance the spiciness or the richness of other ingredients. Pair it with a Scone or slice of Toast and you'll appreciate how Lemon Curd can transform a simple, somewhat homely item into something wonderful.

Lemon Curd Recipe

250ml fresh Lemon juice, finely grated zest.

5 Whole Eggs

500gm Caster Sugar

100gm Butter, cut into small cubes.

1. Put the Lemon zest and juice, the Sugar and the Butter into a heatproof mixing bowl. Sit the bowl over a pan of gently simmering water, making sure the water is not touching the bottom of the bowl. Stir the mixture every now and again until all of the butter has melted.
2. Lightly whisk the Eggs and stir them into the Lemon mixture. Whisk until all of the ingredients are well combined, then leave to cook for 10-20mins. Be careful that it doesn’t curdle by making sure the temperature remains constant, and it doesn’t get too hot. Stir regularly until the mixture is creamy and thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.
3. Remove the Lemon Curd from the heat and set aside to cool, stirring occasionally as it cools. Once cooled, spoon the Lemon Curd into sterilised jars and seal. Keep in the fridge until ready to use. It will keep (refrigerated) for 1 month.
   
   

   

   Photo: Karen Booth

Backyard Lavender Farm

My wife has been on at me for ages to get rid of our lawn and use it for something useful and I've finally caved and have planted a Lavender Farm! A while ago we visited an amazing Lavender Farm near Queenstown called Ben Lomond Lavender and I've always dreamt of having rows of fragrant Lavender on mass like theirs. Since then I've always had lots of single Lavs planted around my Citrus and dotted around the garden but i think when in rows and properly trimmed, Lavender really shines.
With Lavender, my favourite varietal is "English Lavender" (its common name) or Lavendula Angustifolia (its Latin name). At the plant store you rarely see this one though as the average punter there seems to prefer the Stoechas variety or "Spanish Lavender" which, my friends, is a seriously inferior plant, trust me. The scent & essential oil of the Angustifolia is sweet, light & beautiful, whereas the other lavenders have a resinous, camphor element to their oil which makes it much inferior. 
When deciding on the variety to use we went with "Grosso". For years Grosso has been the world's most extensively grown lavender for oil production. Grosso is a lavandin, in other words, a hybrid between Lavandula angustifolia and Lavandula latifolia. It has intermediate characteristics of both parents, having long flowering stems with multiple lateral branching. The habit of the plant is bushy and rounded with greenish-grey foliage. It is reasonably slow growing at first but by its third year forming a spherical mound of between 40-50cm both in width and height. For us in New Zealand it is a plant that looks great from early January through to March if left to flower untouched. This is often a time when many other plants are suffering with the heat and dry yet this lavender never fails to impress. The flowers still look good in March, even if a little faded. Plants can then be cut back and trimmings and flowers and stems make good compost. Personally i would have gone with Pacific Blue which is an Angustifolia as the scent is just so beautiful but they are a lot smaller plants and the yield of flowers is about 1/3 or 1/4 compared to Grosso. The Grosso plants also look more appealing during flowering in Summer as they have many prolific long spikes of flowers that look great over an extended period. 
The plants i purchased are all fairly young and will take about 2 or 3 years to fully mature but we should see some flowers this summer hopefully. Today i laid out all the plants evenly in straight rows. Tomorrow i will plant the Lavenders in a easy draining pumice/compost growing medium mix in raised mounds over the stodgy clay topsoil. I'll then lay weed mat over the entire area to suppress the grass & weeds. Eventually i'll lay bark over to give a more natural look.

The Plants.

Spacing out the plants. 

The growing medium.

Mounding up in the growing medium.