Easy Tanghulu Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What are tanghulu made of? ›

hulu/) or tang hulu (simplified Chinese: 糖葫芦; traditional Chinese: 糖葫蘆; pinyin: táng húlu; lit. 'sugar calabash'), also called bingtang hulu (冰糖葫芦; 冰糖葫蘆; bīngtáng húlu; 'rock-sugar calabash'), is a traditional Chinese snack consisting of several rock sugar-coated fruits of Chinese hawthorn (Crataegus pinnatifida) on a ...

Bring the sugar mixture to a boil and simmer until it is thick like syrup and amber in color. This takes about 10-20 minutes. An amber color indicates that the sugar is hot enough to harden like candy which is about 300°F. If you do not wait until it is hot enough to begin dipping, the sugar coating will not harden.

It's traditionally made with Hawthorne berries, but you can pretty much use any fruit you want. Start by skewering them, then add a 2 to 1 ratio of sugar and water to small pot. Don't stir because it'll make it cloudy and chunky. Just let it sit and simmer until it's a thick syrup.

You'll often see traveling street traders with their long bamboo skewers of shiny candied fruit tucked into tall ornamental gourds, making them something of a display item. 'Tanghulu' actually means 'bottle gourd' in Chinese, which is a type of fruit commonly eaten during the winter months in China.

The sugar will be chewy if it hasn't been heated to a high enough temperature. The temperature we want to reach is hard crack. However, if you don't quite reach that you will get a candy shell at soft crack. At this stage, it will set, but with a stick in your teeth, chewy consistency.

Thus, I highly recommend eating tanghulu within the day after making it. Moreover, keep it away from high humidity. Exposure to heat can cause the sugar to melt and lose the crunchy coating. It should be stored in a cool place if you plan to leave it out of the fridge.

The sugar will crystallize if you stir it while you cook it. Make sure you don't stir the sugar after it comes to a simmer. If it does crystallize, add another half cup of water and start the process again. If making chocolate tanghulu, once the cocoa powder is added, it will begin to crystallize.

Satisfyingly crunchy, but not safe for braces.

Eat immediately and enjoy TIP- Pop your fruits into freezer for 30-45 minutes prior to dipping into sugar mixture if you like it COLD ⚠️Please be extra cautious when using microwave method or making TANGHULU sugar gets really HOT and you can potentially hurt yourself ⚠️ stay safe and enjoy!!

How long does tanghulu last? ›

Refrigerator: If you want to store your Tanghulu for a longer time, you can keep it in the refrigerator. Place the Tanghulu in an airtight container and store it in the fridge for up to two weeks.

It originated from northern China, but it is now commonly available in most Chinese cities. It generally consists of hawthorn fruit and has a hardened sugar coating that comes from dipping the skewer in sugar syrup. Tasted sour, sweet, and cold, it can be found everywhere.

Normal cane sugar works fine, but I chose to use raw sugar since it was my first attempt at making tanghulu and raw sugar is harder to burn. Combine the water and sugar into a saucepan on low heat and stir until the sugar is mostly dissolved, but you are still able to see some granules in the water.

Make Ahead. The skewers are always best when eaten immediately, but tanghulu can be stored in the freezer. Tanghulu is traditionally wrapped in a thin layer of rice paper for storing, but skewers may also be kept in a ziplock plastic bag.

Tanghulu is a sweet-and-sour treat of skewered candied fruit, traditionally hawthorn berries, encased in crystallized sugar. It's said to have originated in northern China during the Song Dynasty (960 to 1279), when the emperor's favorite concubine supposedly fell sick and a two-week diet of tanghulu healed her.

But what is it exactly? Imagine your choice of fruits enveloped in a glassy layer of hardened sugar syrup. Irresistibly sweet and crunchy, not to mention highly Instagrammable, tanghulu wins hearts with its contrasting sensations. The outer shell's brittle crunch gives way to succulent, juicy fruit within.

The Chinese hawthorn berry is a tiny, tart sphere that looks a bit like a crab apple. To turn the berries into the popular street snack known as tanghulu, vendors place several on a bamboo skewer and coat them in caramelized sugar. The result is a sweet, crispy coating surrounding a chewy, sour fruit.

Candied fruit is known as crystallized fruit or glacé fruit, where the whole fruit or smaller pieces of fruit/peel are placed in heated sugar syrup, which absorbs the moisture from the fruit and eventually preserves it (Kuwabara, 1988).