Seasonal Fruit Skewers Coated with Rock Sugar

Better known as bing tang hu lu, this dessert is the epitome of Beijing street snacks. Street vendors sell pears, hawthorn fruit, strawberries and many other fruit coated in a clear sugar shell and threaded through bamboo sticks. It was plum season while I was researching recipes for this book; everyone in Beijing was struggling to eat tennis ball-sized candy-coated plums. This is a slightly more elegant version of a well-loved favourite.