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The right way to Make Tanghulu, the Attractive, Glassy Chinese language Avenue Deal with

Why It Works

  • A contact of lemon juice prevents the sugar syrup from turning grainy.
  • Heating the sugar syrup to 302°F (150°C) ensures an ideal, glassy crunch.
  • Threading two to 3 items of fruit per skewer provides you the fitting size to dip and coat the fruit within the syrup comfortably.

As a child, recognizing tanghulu—skewered fruit glazed with sugar—on the evening markets in Taipei felt magical, like catching a glimpse of Santa Claus in actual life. Tanghulu is historically made with hawthorn, a berry that tastes like a cross between an apple and a cranberry—tangy with a touch of astringency—whereas the onerous sugar shell provides a satisfying crunch and sweetness. After I was a baby, the intense crimson treats, stacked excessive on towering skewers, appeared larger-than-life, like tiny, glistening apples encased in glass. In Mandarin, “tang” means sugar and “hulu” refers to a gourd as a result of the stacked spherical is meant to resemble a gourd’s form while you take a look at it from a sure angle. 

Tanghulu reportedly originates from Beijing; the story goes that a physician first ready tanghulu in 1189, when the Chinese language emperor Guangzong’s favourite concubine, Huang Guifei, fell in poor health after indulging in too many wealthy meals. The physician prescribed her hawthorn dipped in boiled rock sugar as a result of, in line with the philosophy behind conventional Chinese language medication, hawthorn aids digestion and boosts circulation, whereas rock sugar soothes the throat. Inside two weeks, she was again to her outdated self. 

Over time, the apply of consuming candied hawthorn unfold, and other people started skewering the fruits in order that they had been extra handy to eat. Right this moment, tanghulu is made with not simply hawthorn however an assortment of fruit, similar to strawberries and grapes, and is broadly obtainable on the streets of China. The road variations are spectacular: Distributors thread 5, generally 10, items of fruit on lengthy wood sticks, then fan them out right into a forest-like show of jeweled lollipops.

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A TikTok Darling

Whereas tanghulu has been making the social media rounds for a number of years, it catapulted to TikTok stardom in early 2024, with influencers claiming that making tanghulu was a simple affair, requiring simply sugar, water, and fruit. As an alternative of the harder-to-find hawthorn, although, most individuals opted for garden-variety fruit like strawberries and grapes. The craze grew so rapidly that medical doctors began issuing warnings about the dangers of creating it at residence, as children had been being despatched to the hospital with extreme burns from trying the recipe. Whereas tanghulu is basically simply these three substances, making it does require some warning and talent, as boiling scorching sugar will be harmful and difficult to deal with.

Sugar Science

When sugar is heated to 300°F (149°C), the combination reaches what’s referred to as the “onerous crack” stage—a important level in candy-making the place the syrup turns into glass-like when cooled. It’s what provides the sugary shell of tanghulu its signature crystalline crunch, nevertheless it’s additionally the place issues can go fallacious. In the event you don’t warmth it to the fitting temperature, the sweet shell will probably be chewy–not brittle. Agitating or stirring the combination because it bubbles may trigger it to crystalize, leading to a grainy texture as a substitute of a clean, shiny end.

The right way to Stop Crystallization

The primary time I made my sugar syrup to dip a batch of strawberries, I used solely sugar and water and it seized up. As an alternative of wanting like resin-dipped strawberries, my strawberries appeared like that they had been dipped in opaque white sand. 

Skilled pastry cooks have a trick: They use inverted sugars like corn syrup or add a little bit of acid, similar to lemon juice, to forestall crystallization. Sucrose (the principle part of sugar) tends to crystallize when it cools. However inverted sugars—just like the glucose and fructose in corn syrup—intrude with that course of by retaining the sucrose molecules from bonding. Equally, acids like lemon juice break down sucrose into glucose and fructose, which additionally helps to maintain crystallization at bay. Although I don’t name for invert sugar in my recipe beneath, I do make the most of lemon juice, which helps the sugar soften evenly with out crystallizing.

Making tanghulu isn’t troublesome, nevertheless it’s additionally not as foolproof as TikTok may make you assume. In response to Emily Kellogg, a pastry chef and proprietor at EJ Bonbons and Confections in Woodstock, NY, it’s about discovering the fitting stability of acid or corn syrup. “If there’s an overconcentration of acid, that sweet will begin breaking down and turning into tender over time,” she stated. You can also make a superb tanghulu with out utilizing inverted sugar or acid, however as I realized the onerous manner, the sugar turns into a bit extra finicky to deal with. 

I like to recommend a superb candy or instant-read thermometer to make sure your syrup hits 302ºF (150ºC), which is safely inside that golden onerous crack vary of 300º to 310ºF (148º to 154ºF). In case your syrup is even a number of levels cooler, the outcome will probably be a sticky, chewy shell as a substitute of a shell with an ideal crystalline chew. Additionally, prioritize tart, agency fruits like grapes and high quality strawberries, which pair higher with the sugary shell. Keep away from overripe fruits; they’ll rapidly change into mushy and collapse.  

When you get the hold of it, making tanghulu is a enjoyable expertise—and consuming it’s a magical one.  Because the glaze hardens, it varieties a glittery crystalline shell, encasing the fruit into an decoration that’s virtually too fairly to eat. 

The right way to Make Tanghulu, the Attractive, Glassy Chinese language Avenue Deal with



Prepare dinner Mode
(Preserve display screen awake)

  • 24 hulled small strawberries and/or inexperienced grapes, washed and dried (see notes)

  • 1/2 cup (120ml) faucet water

  • 1 cup granulated sugar (7 ounces; 200g)

  • 1/4 teaspoon lemon juice from 1 medium lemon

  1. Thread 2 to three strawberries, grapes, or a mix of fruits onto every skewer, leaving sufficient room to carry the skewer on the backside; put aside. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper; put aside.

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  2. In a small saucepan, mix water, granulated sugar, and lemon juice. Convey water and sugar combination to a boil over medium-high warmth, 10 to fifteen minutes. Don’t stir the liquid at any level throughout this course of, as it could trigger the sugar to grab and change into grainy. Utilizing a moist pastry brush, gently brush away any sugar crystals which have shaped on the facet of the pan. The syrup will start to bubble rapidly and seem like agitated dish cleaning soap.

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  3. When syrup registers 302ºF (150ºC) on an instant-read thermometer and is frivolously golden, take away the pot from  warmth. When bubbles have subsided, tilt the pot to its facet and, working rapidly, holding 1 skewer by the top, rigorously dip the fruit into the syrup, utilizing a spoon to drape syrup over the fruit if mandatory, rotating the skewer and letting the surplus syrup drip off. (In case your kitchen is chilly, hold pot over low warmth to forestall syrup from cooling and hardening.)

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  4. Place skewer onto ready baking sheet; repeat with remaining skewers. Let candied fruit cool and harden, about 3 minutes. Take pleasure in inside an hour or two.

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Particular Gear

5 to eight wood or reusable metal skewers, instant-read or sweet thermometer

Notes

Go for tart, just-ripe strawberries and inexperienced grapes. The sourness of the fruit balances out the sugar. Keep away from utilizing very ripe strawberries, as the warmth of the syrup will begin to cook dinner the berries and trigger them to weep.

In case you are working in a very scorching and humid atmosphere and your sugar isn’t hardening, you possibly can dunk the skewers in an ice-water tub after dipping them within the sugar syrup to assist the sugar crystallize.

Make-Forward and Storage

Candied strawberries have to be eaten inside a few hours. Their excessive moisture content material makes the sugar coating sticky if left too lengthy. Grapes are a bit extra resilient and will final in a single day within the fridge saved in an hermetic container.

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