Sugarcoated Haws on a Stick

When winter comes, you can see snack sellers selling Tanghulu on just about every street in Beijing. Bright red in color, crystalline sugar-coated with perfect sweet-and-sour taste, Tanghulu is a popular traditional winter snack in north China. In fact, there is no relationship between Tanghulu and gourd (the Chinese pronunciation is "Hulu"). It's just because the fruits are put on bamboo sticks and its shape resembles a gourd. It's easy to make a Tanghulu. Haw is the main raw ingredient. After putting the haws on thin bamboo sticks, it's then coated with hot sugar syrup. The sugar coating crystallizes in the cold air and then you have your bright red Tanghulu.
Legend has it that Tanghulu can be traced back to the Southern Song Dynasty. Once the imperial concubine Huang of Emperor Songguangzong fell seriously ill and was bedridden for several days. She didn't want to eat anything and was very unhappy. Court physicians failed to find an effective treatment. Finally, the emperor put up a notice to look for doctors. Then, a doctor from outside the court volunteered to try and cure the concubine's illness. After examining the patient thoroughly, he said to the emperor:"Simmer haws in sugar and water, eat 5 to10 of them before each meal, in less than two weeks, concubine Huang will recover". The concubine followed the prescription and finally recovered.

Later, the story of the miraculous cure and the making of the healthy food quickly spread among the common people. People began putting haws on bamboo sticks. After a dip in hot sugar syrup, they became the Tanghulu we know.

Research shows that, haws can help digestion of food, lower blood fat, lower serum cholesterol and bring us other health benefits. For thousands of years, the healthy and tasty Tanghulu has became a characteristic food in the streets of northern China.

Today, in addition to haws, a dazzling variety of ingredients such as water chestnuts, yam, walnuts, apples and oranges are used to make Tanghulu. Some Tanghulu are with fillings. People cut the haws open, filled with date paste or red bean paste, and then coated with sliced kumquats, bananas or roasted nuts. Thus, the Tanghulu nowadays looks prettier and tastes even more delicious.

• pronunciation [prə,nʌnsi´eiʃən]   n.发音(法)   (初中英语单词)
• imperial [im´piəriəl]   a.帝国的；庄严的   (初中英语单词)
• emperor [´empərə]   n.皇帝   (初中英语单词)
• seriously [´siəriəsli]   ad.严肃；严重，重大   (初中英语单词)
• unhappy [ʌn´hæpi]   a.不幸的；不快乐的   (初中英语单词)
• effective [i´fektiv]   a.有效的；有力的   (初中英语单词)
• treatment [´tri:tmənt]   n.待遇；对待；治疗   (初中英语单词)
• illness [´ilnis]   n.生病，不健康，疾病   (初中英语单词)
• thoroughly [´θʌrəli]   ad.完全地，彻底地   (初中英语单词)
• healthy [´helθi]   a.健康的   (初中英语单词)
• addition [ə´diʃən]   n.加；加法；附加物   (初中英语单词)
• variety [və´raiəti]   n.变化；多样(性)；种类   (初中英语单词)
• delicious [di´liʃəs]   a.美味的，可口的   (初中英语单词)
• relationship [ri´leiʃənʃip]   n.关系；联系；亲属关系   (高中英语单词)
• bamboo [,bæm´bu:]   n.竹   (高中英语单词)
• ingredient [in´gri:diənt]   n.(混合物的)成分   (高中英语单词)
• characteristic [,kæriktə´ristik]   a.特有的 n.特性   (高中英语单词)
• traditional [trə´diʃənəl]   a.传统的，习惯的   (英语四级单词)
• dynasty [´dinəsti]   n.王朝；朝代   (英语四级单词)
• digestion [di´dʒestʃən]   n.消化(力)   (英语四级单词)
• crystalline [´kristəlain]   a.水晶(般)的；透明的   (英语六级单词)
• miraculous [mi´rækjuləs]   a.非凡的；奇迹般的   (英语六级单词)