Lemon/Passionfruit Curd Gritty/Grainy

[LSY]

Advice needed! I made a new batch of lemon curd and it was smooth when it was warm but once refrigerated, the texture became gritty/grainy not from scrambled eggs. I've made it before and didn't have this problem so not sure what went wrong.

Recipe:
1 lemon (juice & zest)
4 passionfruit
2 eggs
150g butter, softened
80g granulated sugar

Method:
Beat butter with sugar for around 2 mins then add in eggs slowly and beat for about 1 min. Mix in the lemon/passionfruit juice. Cook mixture bain-marie method. Remove from heat after mixture thickens. Strain mixture.

 

[Norcalbaker59]

Advice needed! I made a new batch of lemon curd and it was smooth when it was warm but once refrigerated, the texture became gritty/grainy not from scrambled eggs. I've made it before and didn't have this problem so not sure what went wrong.

Recipe:
1 lemon (juice & zest)
4 passionfruit
2 eggs
150g butter, softened
80g granulated sugar

Method:
Beat butter with sugar for around 2 mins then add in eggs slowly and beat for about 1 min. Mix in the lemon/passionfruit juice. Cook mixture bain-marie method. Remove from heat after mixture thickens. Strain mixture.

Did you use a thermometer? It’s never advisable to cook any type of a custard without a thermometer. The mixture must be heated to 170°F (76°C) to properly set. However if the mixture is over heated, above 185° (85°C), it will become grainy when it’s cooled.

Also adding the butter after cooking the egg mixture will always guarantee a very creamy curd.

 

[LSY]

Thanks i'll make it next time with a thermometer. What causes the texture to turn grainy when it's cooled?

 

[Norcalbaker59]

Thanks i'll make it next time with a thermometer. What causes the texture to turn grainy when it's cooled?

Coagulation of the eggs. Even though you don’t think it looks like scrambled eggs if it’s “grainy” is curdled. The only protein that can coagulate is in the egg. Both beating and heat causes proteins denaturalization, which leads to coagulation. You beat the eggs for a minute before you even added heat, so the eggs were well into the denaturation process even before the heat was applied. Then the egg mixture was cooked.

So just remember you have to monitor the temperature of the mixture and keep it between 170°F-180°F.

 

[LSY]

Thanks i'll keep that in mind.

 

[MillieCCC]

I made it yesterday and exactly this happened, but the recipe I followed said to heat to 160 - I maybe snuck up to 165 and it was still grainy whereas last time, made totally casually, it was perfect. Such a shame.

 

[retired baker]

Advice needed! I made a new batch of lemon curd and it was smooth when it was warm but once refrigerated, the texture became gritty/grainy not from scrambled eggs. I've made it before and didn't have this problem so not sure what went wrong.

Recipe:
1 lemon (juice & zest)
4 passionfruit
2 eggs
150g butter, softened
80g granulated sugar

Method:
Beat butter with sugar for around 2 mins then add in eggs slowly and beat for about 1 min. Mix in the lemon/passionfruit juice. Cook mixture bain-marie method. Remove from heat after mixture thickens. Strain mixture.

It shouldn't be that fussy,
I make a very simple one that is cooked in less than 30 seconds, never ever grains or breaks.
Cut the recipe down to suit.

30 eggs
2 1/2 lb sugar.

27 oz butter
3 cups lemon juice ( we used uns bottled juice)

Mix the eggs and sugar just to suspend the sugar

bring lemon and butter to the boil and whip the lemon base into it vigorously on high flame,
as soon as it returns to the boil, just a few seconds, it will turn semi clear ...its done.
No drama, no bain marie needed.

Good for any application, if you want a molded cake just add 2 oz gelatin, soften in a splash of cold water and put it on top of the hot curd before it cools, it will dissolve and you just stir it in, done. pour into cake mold before it cools completely.

 

[Norcalbaker59]

Butter is an emulsion. Heating breaks it.

Once you break the emulsion do you have a gross greasy mess. That is why pastry chefs whip the butter in after cooking the egg mixture. It’s standard procedure in all fine pastry. If you want grocery store quality pastry, then cook the butter.

 

[retired baker]

Butter is an emulsion. Heating breaks it.

Once you break the emulsion do you have a gross greasy mess. That is why pastry chefs whip the butter in after cooking the egg mixture. It’s standard procedure in all fine pastry. If you want grocery store quality pastry, then cook the butter.

I'll make a video and show you.

 

[Norcalbaker59]

I'll make a video and show you.

Save your time and ingredients. Sure you can cook the butter, but the quality of the curd is terrible. Absolutely no pastry chef with any decent training cooks the butter. And the method you are using is a shortcut for grocery store quality.

It is such a poor quality it doesn’t even meet the standards of a a curd—to use it in a cake you say to add gelatin to make it “stick”. Geeez....that is pretty sad when you can even use it for it’s intended purpose without doctoring it with gelatin.

 

[retired baker]