Description
Tanghulu is a traditional Chinese treat featuring fresh fruit skewered and coated in a hard, crunchy sugar glaze. This recipe shows you how to create this sweet, tangy, and visually stunning candy using strawberries, grapes, or your favorite firm fruits. The process involves making a perfectly caramelized sugar syrup and quickly dipping fresh fruit skewers to create an irresistible glossy coating that cracks delightfully when bitten into.
Ingredients
Scale
Fruit
- 1 lb strawberries and/or blueberries, grapes, kiwi, or other fruit of choice
Syrup
- 2 cups white sugar
- 1 cup water
Instructions
- Prepare the Fruit: Wash and pat dry the fruit thoroughly with paper towels. Remove stems from strawberries and grapes. Cut larger fruits like kiwi into slices or bite-sized pieces to make them easy to skewer.
- Skewer the Fruit: Thread 1 or 2 pieces of fruit onto each skewer, keeping them towards one end. Set the skewers aside to prepare for dipping.
- Create an Ice Bath: Fill a bowl with cold water and add ice cubes. This will be used to quickly cool the candied fruit after dipping.
- Make the Sugar Syrup: In a medium saucepan, combine the sugar and water. Heat over medium heat without stirring until the syrup reaches about 300ºF (150ºC), which will take 5 to 10 minutes. The syrup will become amber-colored and thick.
- Test the Syrup: Occasionally check the temperature with a candy thermometer or drip some syrup into the ice bath. The syrup should solidify instantly into brittle threads that snap easily.
- Dip the Fruit: Remove the saucepan from heat. Holding a skewer, quickly dip the fruit in the hot syrup, ensuring an even coating.
- Cool the Candied Fruit: Immediately dip the coated fruit into the ice bath to harden the sugar shell, then lay each skewer on a wire rack or parchment-lined tray to set.
- Repeat: Continue dipping and cooling all fruit skewers until finished.
- Serve: Let the tanghulu rest for a few minutes until the sugar coating is completely set. Enjoy immediately for best texture and flavor.
Notes
- Use firm, juicy fruits with a slightly tart flavor such as hawthorn berries, kumquats, cherries, apples, tangerines, pineapple, or even cherry tomatoes for traditional and creative variations.
- Best enjoyed freshly made as the sugar shell can soften over time.
- Store any leftovers at room temperature in an airtight container, avoiding plastic wrap and refrigeration to maintain the candy’s crispness.
- Use a reliable candy thermometer to ensure the syrup reaches the correct temperature for proper hard crack stage.
- If the syrup bends when tested in ice water, continue heating until it forms brittle threads.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 skewer
- Calories: 150 kcal
- Sugar: 35 g
- Sodium: 0 mg
- Fat: 0 g
- Saturated Fat: 0 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 0 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 40 g
- Fiber: 1 g
- Protein: 1 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
