冰糖葫芦在许多中国人心中是一种特殊且甜蜜的童年回忆。
Tanghulu is a special and sweet memory of many Chinese childhood.

冬天来了，北京的大街小巷四处可见卖冰糖葫芦的小摊，鲜红、晶莹、味道酸酸甜甜，清脆可口的“冰糖葫芦”是秋冬时节中国北方人的最爱。
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.

“冰糖葫芦”其实与 “葫芦”毫无关系，只是用竹签串成的果子，其形状酷似“葫芦”。“冰糖葫芦”制作非常简单，它的主要原料是山楂，用竹签串成串后蘸上熬好的糖稀，糖稀遇到冷空气迅速变硬，就成了晶莹剔透、鲜红亮丽的糖葫芦。
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.

据说“冰糖葫芦”的起源于南宋。南宋的一个皇帝宋光宗，名赵敦（公元1147——1200年）。有一次，赵敦最宠爱的黄贵妃生病了，她面黄肌瘦，茶饭不思。御医用了许多贵重的药品，都没见到什么效果，最后只好张榜求医。一位江湖郎中揭榜进宫，为黄贵妃诊脉后说：“只要用冰糖与山楂煎熬，每顿饭前吃五至十枚，不出半月病准会见好。”黄贵妃按此办法服后，果然如期病愈了。
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.

后来这种做法传到民间，老百姓又把它串成串，就成了冰糖葫芦。
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.

科学研究表明，山楂具有帮助消化、降血脂、降低血清胆固醇等功效，用山楂制成的冰糖葫芦，因为它香脆酸甜的味道、晶莹艳丽的外观，千百年来受到人们的喜爱，成为中国北方街头的一种特色小食品。
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.

而今，“冰糖葫芦”的品种越来越多，原料不再仅限于山楂，很多鲜果和干果，如：荸荠、山药、核桃仁、苹果、橘子等都被用来做成了冰糖葫芦；还有的把大山楂从中间用刀割一个口，填上枣泥、豆沙等馅，再用金桔条、香蕉、瓜子仁等装饰成各种图案花纹，既好看又好吃。
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.

Key words:
葫芦húlu: gourd
山楂shān zhā: haw
荸荠bíqí: water chestnut
金桔条jīnjútiáo: sliced kumquat
红豆沙hónɡdòushā: red bean paste

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