Tanghulu

 Tanghulu

Tanghulu is a treat of fruit that is dipped in sugar so that when it's dried, the fruit has a crunchy sugar shell. Jesse and I recently learned of this treat in one of his school reading books called Little Pear by Eleanor Frances Lattimore.

Clara and I had seen videos of people eating it on Instagram and wanted to try it.

The first attempt didn't work out. I over stirred the sugar and water mixture and did not boil it for the right amount of time. I coated the washed and dried fruit in the mix, but it did not harden up into a crunchy shell. 

Clara did the next try and it worked out well. The mixture is 2 parts water to 1 part sugar. You don't stir it. You heat it on the stove, occasionally swirling the pan a bit, on medium heat. Once boiling, it must boil for 8-15 minutes. It's a matter of trying bits of fruit after that until it is at the right stage. Once it's right, you dip the fruits into the mix and then allow to cool. We let them cool on a nonstick cooking mat.

Traditionally the fruits are on skewers.