Tanghulu, also called bingtanghulu, is a traditional Chinese snack of candied fruit. It is
commonly available in many Chinese cities, such as Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, and other
Chinese cities. It consists of candied fruits on bamboo skewers that are approximately
20cm long. This snack can be found widely along the Beijing snack street Wangfujing and
also there are street vendors who travel from place to place selling it.
The two common names literally means "sugar bottle gourd" and "rock sugar bottle gourd
" respectively. The "sugar" or "rock sugar" refers to the sugar coating, while the "bottle
gourd" refers to the slight resemblance of the snack to the shape of that fruit.
Tanghulu typically has a hardened sugar coating that comes from dipping the skewer in
sugar syrup, but versions can also be found with a second chocolate coating, or sesame
sprinkles. Traditionally, the fruit used has been Chinese hawthorn (山楂 shānzhā),
but in recent times vendors have also used various other fruits, such as cherry tomatoes,
mandarin oranges, strawberries, blueberries, pineapples, kiwifruit, bananas, or grapes.
* 冰糖 bīngtáng crystal sugar
* 山楂 shānzhā Hawthorn
* 草莓 cǎoméi strawberry
* 山药 shānyào Yam
* 橘子 júzi tangerine
