Canning gooseberry curd

I've been looking around and can't seem to find any info about canning (hot water bath--I don't have a pressure cooker/canner) gooseberry curd. A neighbor gave me about a quart of gooseberries from her garden and they're wonderful, but I can't see eating them all right away. I've made several batches of jam this summer (strawberry, blueberry and peach), so I'd like to try something different.

I've found some instructions about how to can lemon and even lime curd, but am not sure about the gooseberry. I don't know if the processing would be the same or if I'd have to do something special (to increase the acidity?).

I'd be grateful for any advice. Hate to see the berries end up going to waste!

Thanks.

Hi,

Do you have a link to a recipe or can offer the ingredients? Is this made with eggs?

You may be in luck, though I am not certain in my mind if this will apply to gooseberries.

For canning curd, I found recommendations for lime and lemon. All of them likely derived from this study. I cannot recommend you can gooseberry curd, because there is no information to reliably suggest a processing time. If an intermediate step is a puree, then can or freeze to that step. You can then make the curd whenever you want later and safely.

You will notice the study includes comments on shelf stability. After four months, there can be darkening and separating of the lemon curd.

Regards,

Wow, Cathy - I'd wanted to can some lemon curd (and some raspberry curd) but never found anything at all! However, I wound up freezing the stuff very successfully - and it's great to use from frozen; it gets all melty when you put it on stuff. If you have a little freezer space, you could just foodsaver the stuff and toss it in the deepest recesses to take out whenever you need. (I happen to have a foodsaver I use only rarely if you want to borrow it)

Michelle,

Thanks for your experience, I think the lady has options to do this reliably and safely.

Thanks!

Regards,

This was the recipe I planned to use:

1 pint of gooseberries, rinsed.
2 tablespoons of water.
½ cup of sugar.
2 tablespoons of unsalted butter.
2 medium eggs.
1 medium egg yolk.

Place the gooseberries and water a non-corroding saucepan. Cover and cook on a low-medium heat, stirring occasionally, for 20 minutes or until the gooseberries are mushy.

Purée the gooseberries through a strainer to produce about 1 ¼ cups of purée.

Stir the sugar and butter into the warm purée and heat, stirring constantly.

Whisk the eggs and the egg yolk just until mixed, then whisk in a little of the hot gooseberry mixture to heat the eggs.

Return to the pan and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture is well thickened, and has reached a temperature of 170°F.

Pour into a container, cover, and chill.

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I'm wondering (since I've not done it before) when you freeze your curd, do you put it in regular canning jars, plastic containers or something else? I don't have very much freezer space (which is one of the reasons I started canning things in the first place).

Thank you for all the advice so far.

Cathy,

This is good to know. I love lemon curd and having it in my pantry ready for use will be great.

Jyoti

tgoddess wrote:I'm wondering (since I've not done it before) when you freeze your curd, do you put it in regular canning jars, plastic containers or something else? I don't have very much freezer space (which is one of the reasons I started canning things in the first place).

Thank you for all the advice so far.

HI,

I happen to like freezer bags. The most convenient size is the hardest one to locate: pint. Quart and gallon freezer bags are everywhere, but sometimes a small size will do. I find pints at Strack and Van Til as well as Walmart. You can lay them flat and stack them once frozen.

Regards,