Sugar-Coated Haws on a stick (Bing Tang Hu Lu), which is sold everywhere in cold days and is one of the daintiest snacks. It looks brightly red, bearing a little sour and sweet.

The sugar-coated haws, or Bing Tang Hu Lu in Chinese, is a popular traditional snack of Beijing. Its history can be dated back to the Song Dynasty (960-1279).

A concubine of Emperor Guangzong fell seriously sick and the court physicians failed to find an effective treatment. But one day a doctor from outside the court volunteered to try and cure the concubine’s illness.

After examining the patient thoroughly, the doctor wrote down a simple prescription: Simmer haws in sugar and water, and eat five to 10 of them before each meal.

No one believed his recipe, but since no ways to try out. Incredibly, the concubine recovered.The story of the miraculous cure and the making of the healthy food quickly spread among the common people.

Some food vendors began putting haws on bamboo skewers and selling them as snacks, and after a soak intp hot sugar syrup, they became the crystalline tanghulu we know.

Nowadays they also have various kinds of it, sugar-coated yam, chufa, grape, orange, and walnut kernel. But sugar-coated haws is the most authentic, and helps digestion while rich in Vitamin C and E.

PS: More photos about the Sugar-Coated Haws: photo 1, photo2.