MY DARLING LEMON THYME

mango and lime curd recipe

I had the hard word from my brother just a few weeks after we moved into our new house, he told me to stop talking about the damn mango trees. I tried, I really did. But please just allow me this one last hurrah will you? Mango season is officially over at our house, we have three mangoes left in the fridge so this will be the last, I promise.

If you are from New Zealand like I am you will understand my excitement, I mean it’s not everyday you get to pick ripe mangos from a tree out the back now is it?! Feijoas, lemons, apples, plums, tamarillos, yes. Fresh mangoes. Sadly never. So I’m going to make the most of it while we are here, but I do apologise in advance for those of you who don’t have access to fresh mangoes. You’ll just have to take my word for it, this and all the other mango recipes I’ve been cooking are beyond awesome.


I’ll keep this brief today as I’m just getting over a yucky cold and feel like my heads stuck in a vice. The kids have both had it the past few weeks, and I guess it’s only fair that it’s my turn now. I’m still going to try and make it to the Gluten-free Expo here in Perth today though, so if you are also heading there and spot the lady with the rosy red nose sitting listening to Yoke Mardewi talk gluten-free sourdough, do say hi!

I adore fruit curds and sadly don’t make them often enough. They are perfect to add a little excitement to thick Greek yoghurt, spooned into tart cases, over pancakes or simply straight from the fridge and into my your mouth! Just like it’s cousin the original lemon curd (or lemon honey as I once knew it as), it has that unmistakeable tartness from the lime which cuts through the sweet. The mango adds a beautiful, well, mango flavour, that we will be enjoying long after the last fresh mango is gone…

Check out my Bitter Grapefruit Curd recipe too if you are looking for more ways with curd.

mango and lime curd
I made this batch with regular butter but have had great success with using ghee instead, making it lactose-free too. Lemon zest and juice could easily be used instead of lime to make things cheaper too.
makes around  3 cups.

  • 2 large ripe mangoes, peeled, cheeks removed and flesh roughly chopped
  • 160g butter, cubed or 2/3 cup ghee
  • 1 teaspoon lime zest
  • 1/3 cup (80ml) fresh strained lime juice (around 2-3 limes)
  • 1 cup (225g) organic raw sugar
  • 4 eggs, beaten

Puree mango in blender or food processor, strain mixture through a fine sieve to remove fibres. You will need 1 1/4 cups (315ml) of puree in total. Set aside.

Melt butter or ghee in a medium heavy-based pan over medium heat. As soon as it’s melted, but not overly hot, whisk in the remaining ingredients including mango puree. Turn the temperature down to medium-low and cook gently, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon for 6-10 minutes until mixture thickens and coats the back of the spoon. At no stage do you ever want the mixture to near boiling point, or you will end up scrambling the eggs, not good. When the mixture is lovely and thick remove from the heat and pass through the sieve again to remove lime zest and any random bits of egg white that may have coagulated, hopefully not too many. Transfer mixture to warm sterilised jars and seal while hot. Store in the fridge unopened for up to 2 months and use within 1 week once opened.

This is my impatient chef way of cooking out curds, but if you feel a little nervous about this faster method, feel free to follow my au bain marie (water-bath) instructions instead, it just takes longer.

Recipe linked to: Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays @ Simply Sugar & Gluten-free

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40 Responses

  1. Sooooooooooooooooooooooooooo jealous. I can't find a single mango in Christchurch that isn't from South America. NOONE sells Oz mangos, and they are the best! I can't believe you have your own tree! It's like an alternate universe… Promise me you'll be jealous when I am gorging myself on feijoas, just so I don't feel so bad now? ๐Ÿ™‚

    1. You will totally have me wishing I was home once you all start talking about Feijoas, don't you worry! When I lived in Sydney years ago, I'd always plan my trips home to coincide with the Feijoa season ๐Ÿ˜‰

      I think it's so sad that Aussie mangoes are so hard to come by in NZ and if you do ever find them they cost and arm and a leg, I think I've mentioned it before but I think there would be a market for frozen mango pieces too…

    2. You can buy frozen mango cheeks from a few gourmet food stores here in Akld but they are just as $ as fresh Australian ones. Which as you know are a world away from Peruvian or other mangos. I lived in Sydney for 5 years and so miss being able to pick up a whole tray of them for $15. As for having your own tree – talk about a dream. Thats almost worth moving to Australia for! I try and plan trips back to Oz to co-incide with the mango season!

  2. Now at is cruel, you have that many mangos you can make curd out of them! Alli@peasepudding

  3. Yum! All those mangoes ready to use… I've always dreamed about visiting Australia/New Zealand. It seems so foreign for me because I've never left Europe and the more I think about it, the more I long for crazy trips halfway around the world.
    Mango + lime must taste amazing! ๐Ÿ™‚

  4. Yum! No idea what an nz mango tastes like, but we have the manila/champagne/thai mangoes finally in our grocery stores for the seasons…I have 10 sitting on my counter…can never get too much of a good thing….silly brother!

    1. Sadly it's too cold for mangoes to grow in NZ, so any you do chance upon are imported mostly from Peru, occasionally from Australia. That's why I'm making the most of it while we are living here in Australia. Enjoy your mangoes ๐Ÿ™‚
      Oh and my little brother was only giving me the hard word cause he's jealous he can't share any of our mangoes with us! (He's back home in NZ).

  5. I live in New York City now, but I grew up on the island of Maui in a town called Lahaina. By the end of August, the entire town would reak of rotting mangoes. People would line ripe ones up on the top of their cement fences so that anyone who was hungry could take them. They would also make jars of bright red mango pickles and store them on top of their tin roofs so that they would gain the benefit of as much heat and sun as possible. As a child the sight of these jars, just out of reach, would literally make me drool. The next time I am home in August I will try your curd recipe. It looks just lovely. I love your blog, by the way!
    Erin

    1. Oh I can just imagine how much those jars of mango pickles would make you drool! Yum! Your childhood sounded amazing ๐Ÿ™‚

  6. oh, what a fabulous idea!
    i've never thought about the possibility of making curd with something other than lemons… and mango and lime sound like an amazing combination. mustmustmust try this!

  7. LOL, mango envy over here too! ๐Ÿ˜›

    I love the colour of this – and adding a bit of lime sounds wonderful, feels like I can almost taste it. The texture of fruit curd is so magical, this makes me want to go out and buy some $4 mangoes so I can make it too!

  8. Emma! So jealous of your fresh mangoes. We ate plenty in Bali and Australia, but the nearest mangoes to me now are from Mexico, so they are a treat I rarely get to indulge in.
    I am going to check out your grapefruit curd recipe, that sounds delish as well!
    xo
    E

  9. oh my goodness…the veggie stand by my house has some wonderful mangoes…i already ran some through the dehydrator, but it looks like i'll be running out and buying some ghee so i can try this…

  10. I do love curds, and this looks divine. The mangoes we ate while in Australia in December were divine – what an inspired idea to make curd with them. I'm about to open a jar of Aussie passion fruit curd I brought home with me and have been saving. The wind is whipping outside (you'd never know spring begins today) so it will be a taste of sunshine. Hope you're feeling better soon!

  11. Love curds, must try a few variations on the lemon this winter. Mango & lime is wonderful combo, thinking would be good swirled through some vanilla ice cream ๐Ÿ™‚

  12. tried this the other night – weirdly had both mangoes and limes on hand. It's awesome, we ate it with cheesecake. Awesome!

  13. mango and lime curd recipe sounds are diferent when ever i saw this recipe mouth water was came.this is perticularly i summer we take this type of recipes this is so good.what is the Bitter Grapefruit?

    1. I just use regular grapefruit in the grapefruit curd recipe, but named it 'bitter', because it's, well, bitter. Kinda like marmalade in flavour, if that makes sense?

  14. Now, I know peaches – as Devine as they too can be – still can't compete with mangoes. But, since I do have my own Queen Peach tree here in New Zealand, I wondered if you think this idea might work with them? Has similar texture…

    1. Oooh that sounds like a great idea! I've not made peach curd before but I really don't see why it wouldn't work! Let me know if you try it ๐Ÿ™‚

  15. Hey:)) just made this to fill macarons with it for my friend's birthday. For some reason the lime seem to have taken over and it does not taste mangoes at all. It tastes like a decent lemon curd. Any idea what might have gone wrong? Folled the recipe to the point and used super juicy organic mangoes that tasted and smelled divine!! Thank you:))

    1. Hey love, without being there it's hard for me to say what went wrong… It's been years since I made this myself, but from memory the mango flavour was there. Maybe leave out the lime zest altogether next time for a milder lime flavour? xx

  16. Helloo! My sister and I made a version of this delicious recipe on our blog, Eating with Alice, as the filling for some white chocolate lamingtons! Oh my goodness, what a terrific combination of flavours! My family were so impressed – the flavour seems to enhance a few moments after you've eaten a spoonful!

    Thanks so much

    xx Hannah
    http://www.eatingwithalice.com

  17. Anxious to try this recipe. Mangoes are just coming into season in the West Indies and 4 of my trees are laden. Normally the fruits fall to the ground and rot. I am also blessed with 7 lemon trees, several lime trees and waaaay to many orange trees. I am averaging about 7 or 8 passion fruit each day from my vine so I push juice and seeds through a sieve and then freeze resulting juice. When I want to make a jug of juice, I take the passion fruit from freezer, add sugar and water and a splash of lime. Lime accompanies all fruit juices here as it bring out a bit more flavour of original fruit. Now if someone could give me new ideas for using nearly 700 starfruit/carambola. Right now the parrots are feasting on them and the balance are rotting back into the earth.