Tanghulu is a Chinese candied fruit which is a popular streetfood throughout Asia. I first saw this gem on Instagram and the delicious crunch sound it made when chewed into made me want some so bad. So here we are making homemade grape tanghulu. It tastes like hard candy with a juicy, fruity interior. Other common fruit used are grape, strawberry and hawthorne berries.
You will need to do three things: Firstly, you will need to prep the fruit (remove any stems), pat them dry and get them on the skewers. Secondly, you need a sugar mixture to coat the fruit with. The sugar mixture is just water and sugar. The trick is not to stir until it becomes bubbly. Thirdly, you will need an ice bath to harden the coating. The ice bath is simply chilled water with ice cubes in it. The tanghulu is best served on the same day it is made. However, leftovers stored in the fridge didn’t taste bad either and still had a crunch to it.
Cleaning tips: You might find afterwards that you have candied sugar stuck to the sides of your pan. Simply heat water in the saucepan and it will melt away. If you have any of the sugar water left over, throw it away immediately. Do not attempt to refrigerate it for later use. It will harden and is such a pain to clean.
Ingredients
2 cups granulated sugar 1 cup water 1 box grapes 2 cups cold water Tray of ice
Instructions
- Pour the sugar and water together in a asucepan and let it boil untouched for 20 minutes straight.
- Place 3-4 grapes per skewer and set aside.
- Pour cold water into a cup with ice cubes (this is your ice bath).
- Once the sugar water from step 1 becomes very bubbly, dip each skewer until the grapes are fully coated with it.
- Place each coated skewer into the ice bath, until the coating hardens. Place on a plate.
- Repeat steps 4-5 for remaining skewers.