Homemade Yuzu Curd

Brought back 6 yuzu from my vacation to Kyoto last month (gotta blog about the trip soon!), and I've been deliberating on how to utilise it fully because this fruit is so precious, well at least to me.

This time, I only bought 6, partly because it was early part of the journey, and partly because I was distracted by the white strawberry (equally precious). After Kyoto, I proceeded to Osaka but couldn't find nice looking yuzu and at reasonable prices anymore. Really wanted to kick myself for not getting at least a dozen back in Kyoto. Oh well...

In order to preserve the yuzu as long as possible, I decided to use 4 of them to make marmalade using my previous recipe. I guess with marmalade, I could have more choices subsequently, like eating it as jam with bread, drinking it as yujacha, and making cakes with it (I thinking about Yuzu Butter Cake!).

And then, the remaining 2. Both sat in the box they came with for sometime; every other day I would open the box, take them out and sniff them (sounds like I'm high on drugs or something?), put them back and procrastinate some more.

When black spots started to appear, I knew I couldn't delay anymore. Should I just bake a chiffon cake? No, no, I should do something different! Finally, decided on Yuzu Curd, and from there, many possibilities once again, like Yuzu Curd Meringue Cupcake, Yuzu Tart etc etc.

Here were the precious 6. They were the best of the lot among the shops I saw in Kyoto and Osaka. At 250 yen per piece, not exactly the cheapest (I've bought 3 for 200 yen before) but for the size and plumpness, I think totally worth it.

As I zest these 2 babies and squeeze them for juice, I literally shed a tear! My precious! It's over. Gone. *sigh* never mind me, I'm just be emo, over 2 yuzu.

2 yuzu fruit only yielded a heap tbsp of zest, but it's ok because the aroma was so intense. And juice was merely 3.5 tbsp.

Actually making curd is quite simple, only required juice, zest, caster sugar, full eggs and additional egg yolks and unsalted butter. This recipe can be used for lemon curd as well.

I rubbed the yuzu zest into the caster sugar to let the zest infused into the sugar.

Instead of cooking over direct heat, I prefer to cook the curd using bain marie method i.e. set a heat-proof bowl over a pot with simmering water. Add the eggs, egg yolks and yuzu zest sugar into the bowl, whisk to combine. Once sugar is dissolved, stir in the yuzu juice. Keep stirring using a spatula, the curd will start to thicken, will take 8-10 mins. Once consistency is like greek yogurt, remove from heat. Strain the curd through a sieve to ensure smooth consistency. Finally, once the curd is cooled to lukewarm, beat with k-beater on medium low heat, and add softened unsalted butter gradually. The yuzu curd is ready once all the butter is combined. Curd will be smooth and velvety. Let the curd cool to room temperature, store in airtight container in the fridge for up to a week.

Homemade Yuzu Curd
(Yield 300ml)

Ingredients

• Zest from 2 yuzu (about 1 heap tbsp)
• Juice from 2 yuzu (about 3.5 tbsp)
• 100g caster sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 3 large egg yolks
• 75g unsalted butter

Steps

1. Zest the yuzu using a microplane, add the zest into a heat-proof bowl, set aside.
2. Add caster sugar into the bowl, rub the zest into the sugar with fingers, until sugar is tinted pale yellow and well-mixed with the zest.  Set aside for infusion.
3. Prepare a pot with water and bring to boil. Once water boils, turn heat down to a simmer.
4. Add eggs and egg yolks into the yuzu zest sugar, place the bowl over the simmering pot of water.
5. Whisk the mixture continuously until sugar is dissolved.
6. Pour yuzu juice into the bowl gradually, whisking continuously to blend.
7. Switch to a spatula, keep stirring until mixture starts to thicken. Once curd thickens to consistency of greek yogurt (about 8-10 mins), remove from heat.
8. Strain the curd through a sieve into a mixing bowl. This is to ensure smooth consistency.
9. Once the the curd is cooled to lukewarm, beat using k-beater on medium low heat, and add softened unsalted butter gradually. 
10. The yuzu curd is ready once all the butter is combined. Curd will be smooth and velvety. Let the curd cool to room temperature, store in airtight container in the fridge for up to a week.

So in replacement of 6 yuzu, I have Yuzu Marmalade and Yuzu Curd. Come to think of it, I'm prolonging their life right? But they are not the same.....

Anyways, hope to bake some yummy cakes/pastries with them in the near future. Or if I'm lazy I'll just eat them as they are. Stay tuned!