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Best Tanghulu in San Francisco

“Sugar-coated fruit on a stick that's been made since the Song dynasty—now with cherry tomatoes, strawberries, and mandarin oranges too.”

Tanghulu

What the real thing tastes like

Tanghulu, tang hulu, or bingtang hulu is a traditional Chinese snack consisting of several malt sugar coated fruits of Chinese hawthorn (Crataegus pinnatifida) on a bamboo skewer. It is typically made by skewering hawthorn fruits and coating them in heated sugar syrup, which hardens in the cold. It is named for its calabash-like shape. Tanghulu is called tangdun'er (糖墩儿) in Tianjin, tangqiu (糖球) in Fengyang, Anhui, and tangzhan'er (糖蘸儿) in Shandong. Tanghulu is often mistaken for regular candied fruits; however, it is coated in a hardened sugar syrup. Tanghulu has been made since the Song dynasty and remains popular throughout northern China. Chinese hawthorn is the traditional fruit used, though in ancient times other fruits were also used. In records from the Qing dynasty, grapes and walnuts were added. The pits and seeds of the hawthorn are emptied and are commonly filled with sweet red bean paste before being skewered and dipped. In modern times, fruit choices have become more dive

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Tanghulu is a centuries-old Beijing street snack—whole hawthorn fruits threaded on bamboo skewers, then dunked into molten sugar that shatters into a glassy shell when it cools. The fruit inside is often pitted and filled with sweet red bean paste before the sugar coat sets, creating a contrast between crisp candy shell and yielding fruit. What began during the Song dynasty has evolved; vendors now thread cherries, strawberries, mandarin segments, and blueberries onto the same skewers, though the original Chinese hawthorn remains definitive.

Order it here when it has

  • hardened sugar coating creates glass-like crunch
  • traditionally filled with sweet paste
  • enduring since Song dynasty
  • fruit variety expanded in modern versions

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