Tanghulu Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Why is my tanghulu not hardening? ›

You can swap out the sweet grapes for sour grapes. if you don't like it too sweet. Second, I would wait for the sugar to be golden. If it's not golden or 300 degrees, it will not harden.

For those who are unfamiliar, tanghulu is a fruit skewer coated in a clear, hardened sugar syrup. It was originally made with sour hawthorn berries, but you can use any fruit you'd like.

The sugar will crystallize if you stir it while you cook it. Make sure you don't stir the sugar after it comes to a simmer. If it does crystallize, add another half cup of water and start the process again. If making chocolate tanghulu, once the cocoa powder is added, it will begin to crystallize.

Working quickly, place fruit end of one skewer in sugar mixture, rotating to fully coat; allow excess syrup to drip back into pan. Place dipped skewer, fruit side down, in ice bath, allowing to cool fully, about 1 minute.

Wash Down Crystals: As the sugar syrup heats up, use a wet pastry brush or a clean brush dipped in water to wash down any sugar crystals that may have formed on the sides of the pot. This helps prevent them from falling back into the syrup and causing crystallization.

Once the sugar is amber in color or about 300°F, test the syrup to make sure it is hot enough before dipping the fruit skewers. You can't have tanghulu without a hard crunchy candy coating so it is important to test the syrup. To do this, simply drizzle a spoonful of the syrup into an ice water bath.

It's said to have originated in northern China during the Song Dynasty (960 to 1279), when the emperor's favorite concubine supposedly fell sick and a two-week diet of tanghulu healed her. (It then apparently became a favorite snack of the royal family.)

Normal cane sugar works fine, but I chose to use raw sugar since it was my first attempt at making tanghulu and raw sugar is harder to burn. Combine the water and sugar into a saucepan on low heat and stir until the sugar is mostly dissolved, but you are still able to see some granules in the water.

Optimal Storage Conditions

Excessive humidity and heat will cause the sugar coating to melt and the fruit to spoil quicker. Avoid Refrigeration: While it might seem counterintuitive, do not refrigerate tanghulu. The moisture in the fridge can soften the hard sugar coating, making it sticky and less enjoyable.

What is the difference between tanghulu and Dango? ›

Tanghulu is a popular Chinese street food made by skewering fresh fruits and dipping them in a hot sugar syrup. Dango is a traditional Japanese rice ball made from glutinous rice flour.

The one thing I do struggle, though, when making tongue Hulu. is dipping them in the sugar mixture. So instead of putting them on the long skewers, I'm just gonna put them on toothpicks. Two part sugar to one part water. So I'm gonna do one cup of sugar.

Be aware that the sugar may crystallize and the fruit become very hard. To counteract the crystallization and soften the fruit, the fruit can be soaked overnight in a cooked sugar syrup.

In hard candy making, it is important to cook all the water out of the sugar/corn syrup/water mixture. If the sugar mixture is not cooked to the proper temperature (the hard-crack stage 300-310° F {149-154° C.} or if you are working in a kitchen with high humidity, chances are your candy is retaining too much moisture.

If you candied strawberries are not hardening, there could be a number of reasons. You didn't cook your syrup to the correct temperature. You must hit 305F. The candy shell is too thick and taking longer to harden.

If the tanghulu is sticky or sticks to your teeth, you may not have heated the syrup to the proper temperature. The syrup will stick to the fruit if it reaches the soft-crack stage, but it will have a chewy consistency.

Always keep in freezer!!