Description
Tanghulu is a traditional Chinese treat featuring fresh fruit coated in a shiny, hard candy shell. This recipe uses strawberries and other fruits like blueberries or grapes, dipped in a hot sugar syrup that hardens into a crisp, sweet shell, providing a perfect contrast to the juicy, tangy fruit inside. Perfect as a fun snack or a festive party treat.
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 green stems from strawberries, remove grapes from stems, and cut larger fruits like kiwi into bite-sized pieces.
- Skewer the fruit: Thread 1 or 2 pieces of fruit onto each skewer, keeping them at one end. Set the skewers aside for dipping.
- Make an ice bath: Fill a bowl with cold water and add a few ice cubes. This will help the sugar coating harden quickly.
- Cook the sugar syrup: In a medium-sized saucepan over medium heat, combine sugar and water and bring to a boil without stirring. Let the syrup cook until it reaches around 300ºF (150ºC), about 5-10 minutes, or until it turns amber and can form brittle threads when drizzled into the ice water.
- Remove syrup from heat: Once the syrup reaches the correct temperature, carefully remove the saucepan from heat and tilt it slightly to make dipping easier.
- Dip the fruit: Quickly dip each skewer in the hot syrup, fully coating the fruit, then immediately dip it into the ice water to harden the candy shell, and lay it on a wire rack or parchment-lined tray.
- Repeat and set: Continue dipping all the skewers, then let them rest for several minutes so the candy shell can fully harden.
- Serve: Enjoy your freshly made tanghulu as a crunchy, sweet-and-tart snack immediately.
Notes
- Choose firm, juicy fruits with a tangy or sour flavor like strawberries, grapes, blueberries, kiwi, orange wedges, hawthorn berries, kumquats, cherries, apples, tangerines, pineapple, or cherry tomatoes for best results.
- Tanghulu is best eaten right away. Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature but avoid plastic wrap and refrigeration to prevent moisture softening the candy shell.
- Use a candy thermometer for accuracy, or the ice water test to check syrup readiness.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 skewer
- Calories: 150
- Sugar: 38g
- Sodium: 0mg
- Fat: 0g
- Saturated Fat: 0g
- Unsaturated Fat: 0g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 39g
- Fiber: 1g
- Protein: 1g
- Cholesterol: 0mg
