Tanghulu

Tanghulu
A variety of bing tanghulu for sale on the street in Shanghai
Traditional Chinese	糖葫蘆
Simplified Chinese	糖葫芦
Literal meaning	sugar gourd
Transliterations Mandarin - Hanyu Pinyin táng hú lu Cantonese - Jyutping tong4 wu4 lou4*2
bīng táng hú lu
Traditional Chinese	冰糖葫蘆
Simplified Chinese	冰糖葫芦
Literal meaning	iced sugar bottle gourd ("iced sugar" because of its crystalline form, meaning "sugar candy")
Transliterations

Tanghulu, also called bīng tánghúlu, is a traditional winter snack in northern China, especially in Beijing, Tianjin and cities of Northeast China, and particularly for children. It consists of candied fruits on bamboo skewers that are approximately 20cm long. This snack can be found widely along the Beijing snack street of Wangfujing and also there are street vendors who travel from place to place selling it.

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 (shān zhā, 山楂, in Chinese), but in recent times vendors have also used mandarin oranges, strawberries, blueberries, pineapples, kiwifruit, bananas, or grapes, creating tanghulu that resemble fruit kebabs.

References

See also

• Crataegus#Culinary use
• Candy apple