How to Make Tanghulu Candied Fruit

This is the best homemade tanghulu recipe! It's so easy to make and this candied fruit is made with just three simple ingredients including strawberries, water and sugar. This recipe is a fun twist on the classic Chinese street food!

Table of Contents

• What is Tanghulu?
• Why you will love this recipe: 
• Ingredients and substitutions: 
• How to make (step-by-step):
• Top tips: 
• Variations and add ins: 
• To make without a thermometer:
• How to serve:
• How to store: 
• Frequently asked questions: 
• Recipe

What is Tanghulu?

Tanghulu is a candied fruit snack that originated in Northern China. This Chinese street food is different from traditional candied fruit because the sugar syrup creates a hard crunchy shell around the fresh fruit rather than the soft candied fruit that you may be used to.

Traditional Tanghulu is served by street vendors on bamboo skewers which makes it easy to eat anywhere. Classically it is made with Crataegus pinnatifida fruit, also known as mountain hawthorn fruit or Chinese hawthorn berries, but it can also be made with any type of fruit that you like. 

Why you will love this recipe: 

• This fruit dessert is so fun to eat and has the best taste! The pieces of fruit have a delicious sweet hard candy shell and then a melt in your mouth inner texture.
• This is such an easy recipe! It's quick and easy and only requires 3 ingredients to make - fruit, sugar and water. 
• You can use any type of fruit that you like for making this candied fruit snack including grapes, raspberries, apples (even crab apples), blueberries or strawberries. 
• This would be a great recipe to serve at brunch, Easter, a baby shower, bridal shower or your next party or gathering. You could even make it for Mother's Day or Father's Day! It's also a popular option to serve for Chinese new year.
• These fruit skewers are dairy free, gluten free and vegan. 

Ingredients and substitutions: 

• Fresh fruit - I personally love using fresh strawberries but you can use any type of fruit that you like. Some other great options include oranges, grapes, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, hawthorn fruit, dragon fruit, pineapple chunks, or even apples. 
• Granulated sugar - this is used to make the delicious candy coating on this sweet snack. I use organic cane sugar but white sugar works too. 
• Water - this is used to make the hard sugar coating that will coat the fruit. 

How to make (step-by-step):

Step one:

First, wash and dry the fruit and place each piece on a wooden skewer or bamboo skewer.

Step two:

Then put the water and sugar in a medium sized pot and bring it to a boil over medium-high heat. Using a candy thermometer, boil the sugar water until the sugar dissolves and the temperature reaches between 250 and 300 degrees Fahrenheit. This will take about 10-20 minutes.

Step three:

Once the sugar water mixture has come to temperature, quickly dip the skewered fruit into the hot syrup to coat the fruit and then place each fruit skewer on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Step four:

The sugar coating on the fruit should harden very quickly, once it does serve and enjoy! If you aren't eating it right away, move it to the fridge so that the sugar coating stays hard.

Top tips: 

• The temperature of the sugar water mixture is very important. Make sure you let it get to 250-300 degrees Fahrenheit before you dip the fruit in it - If you try dipping the fruit at lower temperatures the sugar coating won't harden (trust me I tried it). 
• I highly recommend using a candy thermometer to make Tanghulu. You need the hot sugar syrup to get to the right temperature to ensure it will harden around the fruit. This is hard to do without a candy thermometer. 
• Make sure you dry the fruit completely before putting it on the bamboo skewer. If it is still wet the sugar coating may not harden. 
• I recommend using fresh fruit, and not frozen fruit to make this recipe. 

Variations and add ins: 

• You can use any type of fresh fruit that you like to make this recipe.
• You can use either cane sugar or white granulated sugar to make this dessert. Just note that white sugar tends to boil faster so it will be quicker to make. 
• You can easily double or triple this recipe if you are serving a crowd - just be sure to keep the 2:1 ratio of sugar to water. 

To make without a thermometer:

To make Tanghulu without a candy thermometer, the best way to do so is by testing the temperature of the boiling sugar water by dipping a spoon into a bowl of ice water and then dipping the spoon into the syrup. If the sugar syrup hardens immediately, then you have reached the right temperature. You can then start dipping the fruit skewers into the boiling sugar mixture. 

How to serve:

This treat is best served right away after it's prepared. If you let this fruit candy sit for too long at room temperature the sugar coating will start to soften and melt. However, you can also keep it in the fridge until you are ready to eat it as the sugar shell will stay hard in the fridge. 

How to store: 

Store any leftovers in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 7 days. 

You will likely have some sugar syrup left over after you finish dipping the fruit. You can save it for later and use it as a simple syrup.

Frequently asked questions: 

Other recipes you will love: 

• Turtle Cookie Bars
• The Best Healthy Blondies
• Cranberry Lemon Bars
• Lemon Macaroons
• Double Chocolate Avocado Brownies

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