Passion Fruit Curd
Passion fruit is my favorite tropical fruit and flavor. While passionfruit has been a part of my life since childhood, I truly fell in love with it during my college study abroad program in Ecuador. Maracuya was everywhere. Its strong floral fragrance allured me to fruit stands, to the batido truck where I used to get fresh fruit milkshakes before school, and to heladerías or ice cream shops. I was so lucky back then to be surrounded by maracuya-flavored everything. In New York, fresh passion fruit is pricey, but there are worse ways to spend $4.
Over the past few winters, I have been making batches of passion fruit curd. It’s bright, tangy, and deliciously sweet. It tastes like sunshine, and with one spoonful, I feel like I’m a student again in Ecuador.
Since I’ve made passion fruit curd a few times, I’ve decided to forgo a double boiler. Thanks to tips from Claire Saffitz’s, Dessert Person, I feel brave enough to do this! A heavy-bottom, stainless steel saucepan works great; just be sure to keep the temperature low and keep whisking to prevent the eggs from curdling. And yes, your dominant arm will get a good workout!
This recipe uses frozen passion fruit. I use this brand, which is cubed frozen pure passion fruit puree. Defrost or melt about 5.5 oz of the frozen cubes to get ¾ cup of passionfruit juice. After the curd sets and is ready, use it to top yogurt bowls or a pavlova. This past December, I made a batch of curd to fill sufganiyot for Hanukkah. Store in a sealed container, refrigerated for up to two weeks.
Ingredients:
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- lemon zest from 1 lemon
- 4 egg yolks + 1 egg
- ¾ cup passion fruit juice, from about 5.5 oz of frozen passion fruit
- ½ tsp kosher salt
- 8 tbsp butter, cut into ½ inch cubes
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- fresh passion fruit seeds, optional
How To:
1. Off heat, whisk together the sugar, lemon zest, and eggs in a heavy-bottomed stainless steel pot for about 2 minutes until the mixture is pale yellow and the sugar is mostly dissolved. While whisking, pour in the passion fruit juice, and then add the salt.
2. Place the saucepan on low heat and whisk for 10 minutes until the curd is opaque yellow and can coat the back of a wooden spoon. Be sure the curd reaches 170 degrees F. Once the curd is thickened, immediately take off heat.
3. Add the butter one piece at a time, whisking constantly until each cube melts into the curd. This process should take about 5 minutes. Once all the butter is incorporated, slowly steam in the vanilla extract and whisk again for 30 seconds. The curd should be smooth.
4. Transfer curd to clean glass jars with tops and set it the refrigerator for at least 3 hours.
