Foraged primrose curd, a food to die for

For those of you that have been following this blog for a while, will know that I have started taking an interest in foraging. This is one of my first blog posts covering recipes for foraged foods and focuses in on primrose flower curd.

Until recently, my foray into foraging mainly consisted of adding ingredients to meals. Most commonly, I have been adding fresh dandelion leaves to salad. But with camellia in flower I have been also adding their petals to salads. Meanwhile, wild garlic pesto (with lacto fermented lemons) has also become a firm favourite.

I go into more detail in The Ultimate Gut Microbiome: Fermenting Foraged Food page, but the reasons for my burgeoning interest were:

1. Greater diversity of plant life, to complement the target of 30 different plants a week
2. Greater variety of bacteria ingested due to the more diverse growing environments
3. Getting out into the outdoors and enjoying the local wildlife more

Forage Fine Foods

However, that all changed upon discovery of Forage Fine Foods on Instagram from Liz Knight and her most incredible book ‘Forage’. Both her insta page and the book has been an incredible discovery for me and has opened my eyes into the variety of possibilities available with foraging. One of these discoveries was primrose curd. I am a huge fan of all types of curd. I can easily eat a whole jar of it in one sitting. Especially when slathered over a freshly baked sourdough (as happened this weekend). But on trying primrose curd…..wow. The only downside is that unlike store bought curd, it needs to be kept in the fridge and has a shelf life of only about 3-4 weeks. However, for a curd addict like me, that’s not really a problem.

Foraged primrose curd recipe

This was my first attempt ever at making curd, generally, and then also primrose curd. It turns out that it is ridiculously easy. The longest part, is leaving the sugar to ‘steep’ in the flowers and leaves overnight to get the most intense primrose flavour.

The Ingredients

1. Two big handfuls of primrose flowers and some leaves
2. 400g of golden caster sugar
3. 2 lemons (juiced and zest)
4. 100ml water
5. 2 medium sized apples (I used Braeburn)
6. 125g of butter
7. 4 large eggs

The Recipe

a) Add the flowers and leaves to the sugar and leave to infuse within the sugar overnight. Cover with a cloth. You will notice the flowers and leaves will wilt in the sugar and the sugar gets slightly damp.

b) Peel, core and stew the apples with the lemon juice and zest. Once they have cooked blend them into a fine puree.

c) Mix the butter and water to the sugar, flower and leaf mixture in a bowl. Create a ‘bain marie’ – placing the bowl over a pot with boiling water and leave to melt down. Once this is melted down, remove the leaves and primrose flowers and transfer the remaining sugar mixture to a deep pan pot. Separate out the flowers from the leaves and leave to dry on a plate – this will leave you with some lovely ‘crystallised primrose petals’ which can be used for baking.

d) Add the apple puree to the sugar mixture and whisk in the eggs whilst off the hob. Return the mix to a gentle heat and keep stirring until the mixture becomes thick and ‘curd like’.

e) Once you are happy with the consistency, transfer to sterilised glass jars. Place a lid on the jar, leave to cool and then store in the fridge.

f) Please remember the shelf life is about 3-4wks in the fridge, though I’m sure if you are anything like our household, it won’t last that long!

g) Spoon the curd onto freshly baked sourdough and enjoy!

The outcome – foraged primrose curd – the greatest thing known to man

I hope you enjoy making this recipe. I will be adding more recipes to this blog in coming weeks.

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