Tanghulu – a Chinese sweet speciality
Whether it’s enjoyed as a sweet snack between meals or as a delicacy at parties, tanghulu provides a simple but impressive option for enjoying fruits in a very special way. With a little practice and the right ingredients, you can also make your own crispy fruit skewers at home.
The key points
- Tanghulu is a Chinese sweet.
- Pieces of fruit are placed on a skewer and coated with a crunchy sugar glaze.
- Tanghulu is also available to purchase at fairs in Germany.
Tanghulu fruit skewers – list of contents
What is tanghulu?
Tanghulu – what exactly is it? Tanghulu is a traditional Chinese sweet. It originated as a popular street food from northern China. It consists of fruits that are covered with a crunchy sugar glaze on a skewer. Grapes and strawberries are a particularly popular choice. However, the sweet is traditionally made with Chinese hawthorn berries.
The characteristic sugar coating gives the fruit a shiny, hard layer that breaks with a crunch when you bite into it. Tanghulu is also available to purchase at fairs in Germany. But another great option is to make your own tanghulu.
Tanghulu recipe
How can you make tanghulu yourself? The key to preparing it is to strike the perfect balance between the crunchy sugar glaze and the fruit on the inside.
The sugar solution should be heated at the optimum temperature. This thin and hard layer gives the fruit a sweet flavour and keeps it fresh.
Preparing tanghulu is actually really simple. However, bear in mind that hot sugar will reach temperatures of over 100 °C and can cause severe burns to the skin.
What’s more, you should only ever use clean fruit because otherwise the fruit under the sugar glaze will go bad. Instead, the sugar glaze will provide an airtight seal around the fruit and so preserve it for longer.
Ingredients for tanghulu
| 600 g | fruit |
| 75 ml | water |
| ½ tsp | vinegar |
| 500 g | beet sugar |
| 1 sachet | vanilla sugar |
| If you wish, food colouring | |
| wooden skewers | |
| Iced water for cooling |
How to prepare tanghulu:
1. Prepare the fruit: wash and dry thoroughly. Otherwise, moisture could prevent the layer of sugar from sticking to the fruit.
2. Caramelise the sugar: bring the sugar, vinegar and water gently to the boil in a saucepan. You should heat the solution to around 150 °C. A kitchen thermometer will help you control the temperature.
3. Skewer on the fruit: place the fruit on a skewer so you can then easily dip them in the sugar solution.
4. Immerse and cool down: dip the fruit you have chosen into the hot sugar until it is coated all the way round. You should then dip the skewers into ice-cold water. You can place them in the Liebherr freezer compartment for a short while so they can continue to cool down rapidly and then store them in the fridge.
5. Very suitable: grapes, blueberries and strawberries are particularly suitable, but you can also choose a few other fruits.
Unfortunately, not every fruit is suitable for tanghulu. This is because the sugar won’t stick to foods that contain too much water. For example, citrus fruits like oranges or melons are less suitable. On the other hand, types of fruit where you can also eat the skin or peel are ideal.
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