This tanghulu recipe highlights delicious crunchy candied strawberries or other fruit made popular as a favorite Chinese street food!
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Tanghulu
Tanghulu is a popular candied fruit snack popular throughout northern China. This Chinese street food is different from a traditional candied fruit. Instead of a soft candied fruit, the hardened sugar syrup creates a hard crunchy shell around the fruit. It is served on a long bamboo skewer. If you were wondering how to make tanghulu, you have come to the right place!
Why this recipe works
- This delicious candied fruit is easy and beautiful.
- If you have ever wondered how to make candied fruit, this is an excellent starter option. You can even make this tanghulu recipe without a thermometer!
- Tanghulu without corn syrup is even more delicious and easy to make!
Ingredients for this recipe
- Granulated Sugar
- Water
- Strawberries or other fruit of choice
Best fruit for this tanghulu recipe
Tanghulu is traditionally made with the hawthorn fruit which is prevalent in China. It is also known as mountain hawthorn, shanzha or hawberry and the flavor is tart, not overly sweet with a texture similar to an apple.
This candied fruit snack, also referred to as hawthorn candy or candied haw, works well with almost any fruit! I recommend candied strawberries, grapes, mandarins, blueberries, oranges, pineapple and kiwi. My favorite is the candied strawberries recipe!
How to make this recipe
- Wash and pat dry strawberries or fruit of choice.
- Arrange fruit on bamboo skewer. I recommend 1-3 pieces per skewer.
- Bring water and sugar mixture to a boil.
- Using candy thermometer, boil sugar water mixture until the temperature reaches 300 degrees Fahrenheit. This will take approximately 5-10 minutes. If you do not have a candy thermometer, you can test the temperature by dipping a spoon into cold ice water and then dipping the spoon into the syrup. If it hardens immediately, then you have reached the proper temperature.
- When sugar water mixture has reached the desired temperature, dip your fruit skewer into the sugar mixture to coat the fruit.
- Place each fruit skewer on your sheet pan, silicone baking sheet or parchment paper. If you parchment paper is not good quality, your candy may stick to the paper. You can spray parchment paper with pan spray to help prevent sticking.
- Sugar coating should harden almost immediately. This recipe is best eaten right away. If you need to store, cover lightly with plastic wrap and store in refrigerator.
- Enjoy!
FAQ and expert tips
Tanghulu is best when it is first made so that you can enjoy the delicious crunchy shell. If you wish to store it, it is best to store in the refrigerator to maintain the candy shell
Bring a combination of sugar and water to a vigorous boil. Once the temperature reaches 300 degrees Fahrenheit, your tanghulu sugar is ready to coat your fruit. The sugar coating should harden quickly.
If your tanghulu sugar reached the proper temperature of 300 F, it should harden almost immediately.
Your sugar and water combination will need to boil for about 10 minutes and start to reduce to a very thick syrup. You can test the temperature by dipping a spoon into cold ice water and then dipping the spoon into the syrup. If it hardens immediately, then you have reached the proper temperature.
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Tanghulu
Equipment
- Candy thermometer, sheet pan, parchment paper or silicone baking mat
Ingredients
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 1 cup water
- 1 lb strawberries or other fruit of choice
Instructions
- Wash and pat dry strawberries or fruit of choice.
- Arrange fruit on bamboo skewer. I recommend 1-3 pieces per skewer.
- Bring water and sugar mixture to a boil.
- Using candy thermometer, boil sugar water mixture until the temperature reaches 300 degrees Fahrenheit. This will take approximately 5-10 minutes. See Note 1 if you do not have a candy thermometer.
- When sugar water mixture has reached the desired temperature, dip your fruit skewer into the sugar mixture to coat the fruit.
- Place each fruit skewer on your sheet pan, silicone baking sheet or parchment paper. See Note 2 about parchment paper.
- Sugar coating should harden almost immediately. See Note 3 regarding storage.
- Enjoy!
anonymous
Great recipe! A couple of tips I’d like to add are that you can put the strawberries in an ice bath instead and it also works to dip a skewer in the caramelized sugar and then into the ice bath and if it crunches when you bite it, it’s ready to use.
Geanie
I make this all the time now! We use any fruits on hand and experiment with others. A quick n easy snack. Also, we’ve added subtle flavors like cinnamon and fruit juice for a different essence.
Simone
It was delicious! We did have a hard time covering the strawberries, and I think our sugar burnt a little and so it taste weird. I think that it would be a good idea for you to add how to clean the pot after. You’re supposed to put some water in the pot and boil it. Scrape the bottom and sides of the pot while it boiling. After a while, pour the boiling sugar water out. Besides the mess to clean up, it was fun to make with the girls. We enjoyed it very much and we even tried it with blueberries and oranges. It was very delicious and this is definitely something we’re going to do again!
Aubrey
Thanks Simone! I appreciate your thoughtful feedback and your helpful tips to clean the pot after are great! So happy you and your family enjoyed!
yus
Yummy 😋 awesome recipe will try again!!!
Summer
This is a super easy recipe! I used pieces of grapefruit for my tangulu and it was super good!
Aubrey
So glad you enjoyed! Tanghulu grapefruit sounds awesome!
Hayley
Quick & easy recipe to try for a beginner making tanghulu. Thank you x
Aubrey
Thank you! 😁
AJ
I tried this today after being so intimidated about the idea of boiling sugar – And it came out perfectly!! It was so easy and mess-free, and I already can’t wait to make it again. Thank you!
Aubrey
Thanks AJ! I am so happy to hear that!
Naomie
Thank you so much Aubrey! They looked so pretty, and my whole family loved it!
Aubrey
Thanks Naomie! So happy you and your family enjoyed!