Strawberry and matcha is a combination that could never go wrong, so why not turn it into a crunchy fruit snack? It’s so satisfying to eat and so easy that you can make it in your microwave!
Tanghulu is a very popular fruit snack in China that is usually made with hawthorn berries. It’s gained a new wave of popularity through social media and in no time everyone was making tanghulu at home.
You can do this over a stove but it can also be done in the microwave! It’s such a simple and fun activity while also being incredibly delicious <3
INGREDIENTS:
- A box of Strawberries
- 1tsp Matcha Powder
- 50ml Water
- 100g Caster/Granulated Sugar
PREP:
- Wash, remove the stem, and dry the strawberries thoroughly. Place each strawberry on a skewer and set aside
- Prep an ice bath for later: Grab a bowl and add water and ice to it. Set this aside
STEPS:
- In a small bowl, add matcha and water. Whisk until there are no lumps
- Add the matcha and sugar into a heatproof container and stir to combine everything. Preferably choose a tall jar-like container so you can dip and it’ll prevent the sugar from spilling over in the microwave
- Pop it into the microwave at 30-sec increments. For every 30 sec microwaved, stir it in between then microwave again (this took me ~10 times to get it hot enough). You want to heat it enough that the mixture bubbles and goes a bit amber in color. The matcha will make it hard to see so go by the texture. The syrup should thicken so it will bubble slowly and not as aggressively as when you first microwaved it. When you swirl your container, the syrup won’t move so easily (Be careful because everything will be very HOT)
- When you think it’s good to go, do a test sample. Dip a strawberry into the syrup and then dip it into the water. If it doesn’t harden, or it dissolves in the water bath, you need to keep microwaving the syrup.
- If the test sample hardens then you’re ready to make the rest. Dip the strawberries into the matcha sugar one at a time and swirl the skewer to give the strawberry an even coating, then pull it out to allow for the excess sugar to drip off before dunking it into the ice water bath
- Then enjoy the crunch matcha tanghulu!
IT’S NOT WORKING:
- The most common mistake when it comes to making tanghulu is not heating the sugar enough, let me explain…
- The “hard-crack” stage is when sugar reaches around 150°C and there is no water left in the sugar. This means that when it cools, the sugar solidifies completely and will crack like most hard candies. This is the stage you want your tanghulu syrup to reach to get that crack and for it to not get stuck to your teeth
- If you do not cook the syrup or microwave the syrup for long enough, it will not reach 150°C so the remaining moisture will cause your sugar to remain soft and chewy
