The Viral Candied Fruit Trend That's Sending People To The Hospital

Doctors at Shriners Children's Hospital in Boston are warning that a recent TikTok trend could be more dangerous than delicious. The viral trend in question? Homemade tanghulu. Tanghulu is a traditional Chinese snack made of skewered fruits encased in a glass-like, hardened sugar shell. TikTok creators show how the treat can be made at home by melting sugar or hard candies like Jolly Ranchers in a microwave, and then dipping skewered fruits into it. A quick dunk in ice water swiftly hardens the sugar, leaving you with a delightful treat that is soft, juicy, and crunchy at the same time.

However, working with hot sugar can be disastrous if you're not careful, and that's precisely why this viral TikTok trend is proving to be dangerous. Doctors at Shriners and other hospitals across the world have noticed a correlation between the trend and an uptick in the number of children admitted for severe burns caused by hot sugar spills.

In one case, a nine-year-old in Fayette County, Pennsylvania was brought to the hospital after trying to make tanghulu from melted Jolly Ranchers with his mother. He accidentally spilled hot melted candy all over his right hand, which then hardened into a shell around his skin and resulted in second-degree burns. Surgeon Colleen Ryan, M.D. at Shriners alone saw two patients within a fortnight, and doctors at West Penn Burn Center in Pittsburgh reported four similar cases between June and August 2024 — all related to burns from making the viral candied fruit.

Candy has a melting point of 350 degrees Fahrenheit, which is much higher than the boiling point of water (212 degrees Fahrenheit). This is why melted candy is particularly perilous. It is significantly hotter and can cause extreme scald burns that go much deeper into the skin than those caused by hot liquids like water or coffee.

In a statement released by Shriners Children's Hospital, surgeon Colleen Ryan explains that the problem is also melting sugar and candy in the microwave: "When sugar is melted in the microwave like this, it has a high heat capacity, meaning it stores the heat energy." Even a small splash or splatter while taking out the melted sugar from the microwave can lead to severe burns, which may look small but can run very deep. Another issue that doctors have noticed is people using wrong containers made out of plastic in the microwave.Microwave-safe plastics are a myth, and the heat of the melted sugar can burn right through such materials and spill straight onto your skin.

As such, it's not just this viral tanghulu trend that's precarious; any recipe that involves working with hot sugar or melted candy, especially in the microwave, requires caution. Take this other TikTok trend which makes cotton candy with just one ingredient (aka Jolly Ranchers melted in the microwave), for example — it can lead to equally disastrous results if you aren't careful.