Tanghulu: A Sweet Chinese Snack

The elderly age so gracefully here in China. The best word to describe these photos is poetic. This beautiful vendor spends her days selling tanghulus, shan zha (also known as hawthorns) glazed with hard sugar on a stick. What once originated from Beijing, tanghulus are now a popular snack in China. The hawthorn fruit is a sweet and bitter fruit. Raw, the fruit has many health benefits that the Chinese use for medicine (click to learn more). If you have blood pressure problems then hawthorns are the easy cure for you.

Notice in the picture below the man in the middle of the street. Jaywalking is how someone survives living in China. I too cross this eight lane road when I want food from one of the restaurants. (The kind young woman looking at the tanghulus in the picture below surprised me with my first one.)

Bring some Chinese culture into your home. This popular Chinese snack would be fun recipe to make at home with your friends or children. If you are interested in making Tanghulus at home click here for directions.

For one tanghulu stick it cost 4RMB (about 60cents)

 

If you have the opportunity I suggest you try the tang(2)hu(2)lu(4). For my healthy friends, you can buy (without the sugar) the raw hawthorns from a fruit vendor.