Methods to Make Tanghulu, the Beautiful, Glassy Chinese language Avenue Deal with

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 toddler, the brilliant pink 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 if you have a look at it from a sure angle. 

Tanghulu reportedly originates from Beijing; the story goes that a health care provider first ready tanghulu in 1189, when the Chinese language emperor Guangzong’s favourite concubine, Huang Guifei, fell unwell 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 Inside two weeks, she was again to her outdated self.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 have been extra handy to eat. At present, tanghulu is made with not simply hawthorn however an assortment of fruit, equivalent to strawberries and grapes, and is extensively out there on the streets of China. The road variations are spectacular: Distributors thread 5, typically 10, items of fruit on lengthy picket sticks, then fan them out right into a forest-like show of jeweled lollipops.

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 a substitute 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 started issuing warnings about the dangers of constructing it at dwelling, as children have been being despatched to the hospital with extreme burns from trying the recipe. Whereas tanghulu is essentially simply these three components, making it does require some warning and ability, as boiling sizzling sugar may be harmful and difficult to deal with.

Sugar Science

When sugar syrup is heated to 300°F (149°C), the combination reaches what’s referred to as the “onerous crack” stage—a essential 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, but it surely’s additionally the place issues can go fallacious. In case you don’t warmth it to the proper temperature, the sweet shell will likely be chewy–not brittle. Agitating or stirring the combination because it bubbles may additionally trigger it to crystalize, leading to a grainy texture as an alternative of a easy, shiny end.

Methods to Forestall 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 a substitute 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, equivalent to lemon juice, to forestall crystallization. Sucrose (the primary 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 holding 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 tough, but it surely’s additionally not as foolproof as TikTok would possibly make you suppose. In line with Emily Kellogg, a pastry chef and proprietor at EJ Bonbons and Confections in Woodstock, NY, it’s about discovering the proper steadiness of acid or corn syrup. “If there’s an overconcentration of acid, that sweet will begin breaking down and changing into smooth over time,” she mentioned. You may make a very good tanghulu with out utilizing inverted sugar or acid, however as I discovered the onerous manner, the sugar turns into a bit extra finicky to deal with. 

I like to recommend a very good sweet 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 end result will likely be a sticky, chewy shell as an alternative of a shell with an ideal crystalline chunk. 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 turn out to be mushy and disintegrate.  

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 kinds a shiny crystalline shell, encasing the fruit into an decoration that’s nearly too fairly to eat. 

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