Bing Tang Hu Lu
冰糖葫芦 · Bīng Táng Hú Lú
🌶
📍 Easy to find
Bing Tang Hu Lu is Beijing's winter street food icon. Hawthorn berries are skewered on bamboo sticks, dipped in boiling sugar syrup, and left to harden into a glass-like shell. The result is striking: a glossy red wand of crystallized sugar with bright red berries inside. The first bite cracks through the hard sugar shell into the tart, soft berry beneath — a perfect sweet-sour balance. Modern variations include strawberry, kumquat, and even durian, but hawthorn is the original.
📖 History
This snack has been sold on Beijing streets for over 800 years, since the Song Dynasty. It was traditionally a winter treat because the sugar hardened faster in cold weather.
🍝 Where to eat it:
Seasonal street vendors throughout Beijing, especially around Wangfujing Snack Street, Qianmen, and temple fairs. Daoxiangcun (稻香村) also sells them.
Seasonal street vendors throughout Beijing, especially around Wangfujing Snack Street, Qianmen, and temple fairs. Daoxiangcun (稻香村) also sells them.