There is always a new trend on the popular app, TikTok. If you ever need to find a good recipe or anything TikTok is the place to be. Recently there has been a new thing that people are trying called candied fruit, formally known as crystallized fruit. It is exactly what it sounds like, a hard candy outside and fruit in the middle. There are a lot of different fruits that people are using like grapes, strawberries, kiwis, and pineapple.

Candied fruit has been around for a while. It originated in the Middle East and Asia. The basic method of candied fruit origin dates back to the 14th century when sugar became known outside of India. The idea behind candied fruit was to preserve the fruits throughout the winter season. Honey was one of the first ingredients used and later fruit jellies and jams were created. Sugar was known as an exotic spice similar to salt or pepper, that merely enhanced the flavor of certain foods.

Tanghulu is a ripe fruit covered in a thin, clear sugar shell. This is arguably China’s most popular street snack. In Chinese, Tanghulu translates to “bottle gourd.” It is a common fruit consumed in China through the winter. There is also another name for this sweet dish, Iced Tanghulu, because of the sugar coating on the fruit.

Now TikTok has changed the game with candied fruit. Most of the time you see candied grapes, but its not just regular sugar anymore. People are flavoring the sugar to make a delicious fruit covered snack. Some popular flavors are cotton candy, strawberry, mango, banana, and anything else you can think of.  You can even put more candy on top of that like pop rocks and  crushed jolly ranchers. While this snack isn’t the healthiest; it is very delicious and I highly recommend that you try them! While you could make them yourself; there are a lot of small businesses that sell these fruits.