Rhubarb and vanilla curd

We grow several varieties of rhubarb in the garden and this year is obviously a good year for this plant as they are rapidly out growing their allocated space. In search of recipes which use this bounty (otherwise known as a glut) I came across several recipes for fruit curds, I love lemon curd particularly in victoria sponge cakes so I thought I would have a go with a rhubarb curd, the addition of vanilla due to wanting to the rhubarby tang with a mellow spice, vanilla has a natural affinity to rhubarb.

The curd colour is variable as it depends on the starting colour of your rhubarb, early forced rhubarb will give a delicate pink curd, but if you are using later season it will come out a greeny orangey red, feel free to change the colour with grenadine or food colour  if you want a more red / pinky curd.

Its also a great way to use up any excess of homelaid eggs which from time to time (particularly if I have forgotten to take eggs into work).

Ingredients

• 600g rhubarb , washed and chopped up into chunks
• 4 eggs - free range
• 200g butter
• 4 tsp cornflour
• 175g caster sugar
• 2 vanilla pods, cut and stripped of seeds ( you could use paste)

Method

• First you need to juice the rhubarb, I did this by using my food processor to chop very finely and then strained the resultant mush through a sieve and collected the juice in a bowl.
• Now put the eggs, butter, cornflour and sugar, vanilla seeds in a large pan and the rhubarb juice over a very low heat whilst whisking until the butter has melted and all the other ingredients have been well incorporated.
• Continue to stir with a wooden spoon until the mixture thickens and begins to coat the back of your spoon like thick custard, this could take 15 - 20 minutes
• Remove from heat and sieve to remove any eggy lumps and bits of rhubarb so you have a smooth curd
• Cool in the fridge and then pot into sterilised jars , this recipe makes about 2 normal sized jars. Store in the fridge but use within a week or so.
• Delicious spread on scones, toast,crumpets or in cakes.

I am also linking this up as part of Calendar cakes over at Dollybakes and Laura Loves Cakes