Always wanted to know how to make Strawberry Tanghulu ? This crunchy, crackly candied treat is so fun, so good, and actually easy to make.
Tanghulu Strawberries are crunchy candied strawberries… juicy, ripe strawberries are covered in a crunchy candy shell… and they are just magic.
How could that not be good? A super crunchy candy shell over a delicious juicy strawberry… holy yum.
I’m telling you that you will never eat another candy apple again… because really, candy apples always seem like a great idea, but they never are very good are they???
But these are! So good. I highly recommend you make these for your sweethearts this year because…
Valentines Day is coming!! And also because these are so fun, so easy and so good.
What is Tanghulu?
What exactly is tanghulu?? it’s a super yummy and very fun Chinese snack made of fruit (and sometimes other fun ingredients like marshmallows!) coated in a thin, glassy, crackly hard sugar coating.
*This very cool and special treat originated in China. Learn more here.
How to Make Strawberry Tanghulu
- Combine and heat water with sugar and corn syrup
- Skewer your clean, dry fruit on wooden skewers
- When the sugar syrup reaches the proper temperature (300 degrees), gently dip the fruit into the syrup, tilting and swirling as needed to completely coat the pieces
- Dip the coated fruit in ice water to cool quickly and harden
- Lay the pieces on parchment
My pro-tips for making the perfect Tanghulu…
- I am not one to make a lot of things that require special tools, but I do recommend a candy thermometer for these. Sugar goes from delicious candy to something burnt and inedible in about a millionth of a second.
- You can make Tanghulu out of all kinds of fruit, not just strawberries… mandarin oranges and grapes are super popular. I like cherries and even blueberries.
- These don’t keep well and are best eaten the day they’re made.
Recipe-ish…
Strawberry Tanghulu
Ingredients
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/3 cup water
- 1/4 cup corn syrup
- 10-12 Strawberries
Instructions
- In a medium saucepan over medium heat combine the sugar, water and corn syrup.
- Fill a large bowl with ice water and set aside.
- Stir a few times until the sugar dissolves and then turn the heat up to medium-high and stop stirring.
- Let the mixture simmer until it reaches about 300 degrees, then remove from the heat.
- Skewer each strawberry on a wooden skewer and carefully dip each one into the hot sugar, tilting the pan and twirling the strawberries to completely coat them.
- Dip the coated fruit in ice water to harden quickly.
- Lay the coated strawberries on a sheet of parchment.
- Best eaten on the day they’re made.
Let me know what you think!
If you liked learning how to make Strawberry Tanghulu I’d love for you to look at my Sponge Toffee Recipe. It’s also super fun to make, surprisingly easy, and so good! And if you love strawberries (like I do), please try my Strawberry Chocolate Cookies too!
