Snack · Candy-coated

Tanghulu (Candied Hawthorn Skewers)

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The recipe is said to trace back to a 12th-century imperial physician who prescribed sugared hawthorn fruit as medicine for a sick royal concubine.

Whole hawthorn berries are skewered on a bamboo stick and dipped in hot sugar syrup that hardens into a thin, glassy shell, giving a sharp crack followed by tart fruit underneath.

Why it's made this way: What began as a Song-dynasty medicinal remedy became popular once imperial kitchens started serving it, eventually spreading to ordinary street vendors.