Lemon honey

Also known as lemon curd or lemon cheese. The traditional recipe uses white sugar, of course, but it converts easily to rapadura or other dehydrated sugars, or honey. Honey gives you a more usual look, but the flavour of both is great. Try a small mix (one lemon) first to see how you like it. A standard batch uses 3 lemons.

• 1 lemon – juice, and grated rind Large batch: 3 lemons
• 1 oz butter: 3 oz butter
• 2-3 oz rapadura or honey: 6-9 oz rapadura or honey
• 1 egg: 3 eggs

2 oz of sweetener gives a nice combination of sweet and tangy. Any less is too tangy, and some people may want to start with a little more (3 oz)

Melt together the butter, sweetener, lemon juice and lemon rind in a small/medium saucepan over a low heat. Beat the eggs, take the pan off the heat and stir in the egg. Mix well. Return to a gentle heat and cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly, till thick. It will thicken more when cool. Pour into a clean jar. When cold, store in fridge.

If you’re using unheated honey and want to retain as many enzymes as possible, you can stir in the honey after the rest of the mixture has thickened. But you will have a much runnier sauce, which isn’t suitable as a spread.

Serving suggestions:

• Spread on toast, fruit loaf or pancakes
• As an ice cream topping
• Use to fill miniature meringue or nut “pastry” cases (see lesson 13).

Variation: orange