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冰糖葫芦 Bīngtánghúlu

If you walk down a street in Beijing in winter, you might see people selling skewers packed with shiny, glazed fruits on the street. These treats are called ‘bingtanghulu’. 'Bingtang' means crystallised sugar, and 'hulu' refers to the gourd-like shape of haws, the sour fruit of the Hawthorn traditionally used to make this snack. So 'bingtanghulu' roughly means fruit covered in a hard, sugary shell.

This week, with most of our Year 8, 9 and 10 students, we worked together to make tasty ‘bingtanghulu’ in Chinese classes! Since the haws aren't commonly available in the local market, we used blueberry and grapes in this recipe.

Students took turns to poke bamboo skewers through 3-4 favourite fruits, while waiting for the sugar and water mix on the stovetop to turn a golden brown colour. Students then dipped skewered fruits into the sugary syrup, which should have hardened around the fruit in a few seconds.