Brochettes d'aubépine caramélisées (Tanghulu)

Wash the hawthorn berries and pat them completely dry with a towel — any surface moisture will make the sugar coating turn cloudy or seize later, so take your time here. Halve each berry and flick out the small hard pit with the tip of a knife or a chopstick, then thread 8–9 halves onto each skewer through the centre so they sit snugly together.

• 500 g hawthorn berries
• 10 bamboo skewers

✅ C'est prêt quand : all the fruit is pitted, bone-dry, and threaded onto skewers

In a small, completely clean and dry heavy-bottomed saucepan, combine the sugar, water and corn syrup. Set over medium heat and bring to a boil without stirring — stirring now can make the sugar crystallise into a grainy, dull mess instead of glass. Once it boils, swirl the pan gently from time to time instead of stirring, add the lemon juice, and keep cooking until the syrup reaches 150–155°C (300–310°F) on a sugar thermometer, about 10–12 minutes.

• 300 g sugar
• 120 ml water
• 30 g corn syrup or maltose
• 1 tsp lemon juice or vinegar

✅ C'est prêt quand : a drop of syrup dripped into cold water hardens instantly into a brittle, snapping thread, and the syrup itself is pale gold, not brown