This winter, let’s make some fruit tanghulus and build them into a colorful tanghulu tree!

Many of you use Hulu for stream TV and movies, but have you ever heard of Tanghulu before? Tanghulu (糖葫芦) is a traditional Chinese snack made of fruits with hardened sugar syrup coat. It is a popular treat for kids during winter (usually around the Chinese New Year) that you can easily find as a street food.

Traditional version of Tanghulu

The most traditional Tanghulu is made of Chinese hawberry (or hawthorn/crataegus). I personally have never found them in U.S. grocery stores, maybe because the flavor is quite sour with only a hint of sweetness. But when they are coated with sugar syrup, the combined sweet and sour flavor enriches every bite of them, leaving me with wonderful memories of my childhood.

The sugar syrup coat is so crunchy that it makes you feel like you are nibbling iced candy in the cold winter, which kids love doing! People also love Tanghulu for its color – red perfectly fits in the theme of Chinese New Year (similar to Christmas). They look just like the traditional lanterns in Chinese New Year!!

What’s Hulu?

Tang (糖) refers to sugar, but why we call the fruit part as hulu? Hulu (葫芦) is the Chinese name for calabash (I consider it as a kind of squash), which has nothing to do with the snack Tanghulu. I’m guessing it’s because the shape looks like a calabash when two hawberries are clustered on a stick.

Disappearing street foods

As China focuses on city development in the recent decades, Tanghulu and many other street foods are gradually disappearing in urban areas. But we should never forget about the tradition, therefore I’m sharing the recipe of Tanghulu to the rest of the world! Any fruits can be sugar coated into a Tanghulu!

And what’s more, I made a Tanghulu tree that looks like a Christmas tree, which combines both the American and Chinese cultures (each represents the most important festival in each culture)! Isn’t that lovely?

Some other traditional Chinese dessert recipes:

• Crispy Fried Bananas (Chinese banana fritters)
• Grapefruit Peel Candies

Tanghulu Tree Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 Carrot
• 1 Apple
• 2 cup Sugar
• 1 cup Water
• 8 Strawberries
• 15 Cherry tomatoes (In red, yellow, orange colors)
• 10 Green grapes
• 8 Blueberries
• 1 Broccoli
• Some other decorations like mini pinecones are optional

Instructions:

1. Wash and dry fruits completely*. Once dried, skewer every fruit with a toothpick.

2. Add 2 cups of sugar and 1 cup of water into a saucepan. Boil the syrup over medium heat for about 50 minutes.

3. Do an iced water test* (see notes below) to see if the syrup has reached the proper status.

4. Once the desired status has reached, turn heat to “low”, so that the syrup won’t turn hard as we coat the fruits.

5. Dip a fruit into the syrup and spin the toothpick gently to cover the fruit completely. Lift the fruit, spin the toothpick gently above the saucepan to allow excess syrup to drip off.

6. Put a parchment paper over a baking pan. Place the sugar coated fruit on the parchment paper. Set aside to cool.

7. Connect a carrot on the top of an apple with some toothpicks to make a “tree” base.

8. Place toothpicks with sugared fruits into the “tree”. Fill in the gaps with broccoli or other decorations.

Notes:

• Choice of fruits: Make sure you use fruits with dry surfaces, like cherries, strawberries, blueberries, grapes, and cherry tomatoes… Pre-cut fruits like pineapple chunks, kiwis, or watermelon chunks are not recommended here. The water on their surfaces will gradually melt the crunchy shell, and the shell will fall off from the fruits within hours.
• Iced water test: Dip chopsticks into the syrup, then dip into iced water for 2 seconds. Take the chopsticks out from iced water, taste the syrup on chopsticks tips. When it turns hard and crunchy, the syrup has reached the proper status. If the syrup is still sticky after going through iced water, you need to keep boiling it until it passes the iced water test.

If you like Tanghulu, you may also enjoy:

• Grapefruit Peel Candy

Tanghulu Tree

Ms Shi & Mr He

Traditional Chinese fruity candy – tanghulu. You can easily make it at home!

5 from 1 vote

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 1 hour hr

Resting time 10 minutes mins

Total Time 1 hour hr 30 minutes mins

Course Dessert, Snack

Cuisine Chinese

Servings 5 people

Calories 400 kcal

Equipment

• 50 Toothpicks
• 1 saucepan
• 1 Parchment paper

Ingredients

  

• 1 Carrot
• 1 Apple
• 2 cup Sugar
• 1 cup Water
• 8 Strawberries
• 15 Cherry tomatoes Red, yellow, orange colors
• 10 Green grapes
• 8 Blueberries
• 1 Broccoli

Instructions

 

• Wash and dry fruits completely*. Once dried, skewer every fruit with a toothpick.
• Add 2 cups of sugar and 1 cup of water into a saucepan. Boil the syrup over medium heat for about 50 minutes.
• Do an iced water test* (see notes below) to see if the syrup has reached the proper status.
• Once the desired status has reached, turn heat to "low", so that the syrup won't turn hard as we coat the fruits.
• Dip a fruit into the syrup and spin the toothpick gently to cover the fruit completely. Lift the fruit, spin the toothpick gently above the saucepan to allow excess syrup to drip off.
• Put a parchment paper over a baking pan. Place the sugar coated fruit on the parchment paper. Set aside to cool.
• Connect a carrot on the top of an apple with some toothpicks to make a "tree" base.
• Place toothpicks with sugared fruits into the “tree”. Fill in the gaps with broccoli or other decorations.

Video

Notes

• Choice of fruits: Make sure you use fruits with dry surfaces, like cherries, strawberries, blueberries, grapes, and cherry tomatoes… Pre-cut fruits like pineapple chunks, kiwis, or watermelon chunks are not recommended here. The water on their surfaces will gradually melt the crunchy shell, and the shell will fall off from the fruits within hours. 
• Iced water test: Dip chopsticks into the syrup, then dip into iced water for 2 seconds. Take the chopsticks out from iced water, taste the syrup on chopsticks tips. If it turns hard and crunchy, the syrup has reached the proper status. If the syrup is still sticky after going through iced water, you need to keep boiling it until it passes the iced water test.

Keyword Authentic, crunchy, easy, fruit, fruit candy, Snack, sweet, Vegan