How to Make Boba Pearls at Home -Tapioca Pearls (2023)

FAQs

How do you make bubble pearls? ›

Theoretically, you can substitute tapioca flour with cornstarch, potato starch, or sweet potato starch. You can also substitute brown sugar water with any type of sweet drink you like. For example, I used freshly blended strawberry juice in this strawberry boba recipe.

Fill a small-medium saucepan with 10 cups of water and bring to a boil. Add 1 cup of dried tapioca pearls to the boiling water. At medium heat, wait until the tapioca floats to the surface of the water (2-3 minutes), then cover and cook at a low simmer for 2-3 minutes for a total cooking time of 2-6 minutes.

Pre-boil water on a stovetop. Slowly add 2 tablespoons of tapioca pearls to the boiling water and give the water a gentle stir to stop the pearls from sticking to each other. Boil until the tapioca pearls float to the top. Turn the heat to medium low and stir occasionally for 3-5 minutes.

Popping boba are made using a spherification process that includes a reaction of sodium alginate and calcium chloride or calcium lactate. This process results in fruit juice filled “bubbles” that burst when pressure is applied to them.

Tapioca pearls, also known as tapioca balls, are edible translucent spheres produced from tapioca, a starch made from the cassava root. They originated as a cheaper alternative to sago in Southeast Asian cuisine. When used as an ingredient in bubble tea, they are most commonly referred to as pearls or boba.

Make sure you use pure tapioca flour/starch. You can't substitute this with corn starch or potato starch as the texture won't be the same.

You need to use tapioca starch/flour. These are the same thing, but you definitely cannot substitute cornstarch for tapioca starch. The boba will not form properly. Heat it up: when heating up your water and dark brown sugar, make sure the liquid gets heated enough so that the tapioca starch can dissolve.

Regular boba is made using tapioca starch, which comes from the cassava root plant. Tapioca starch looks like a white powder, which gets mixed with boiling brown sugar to make tapioca flour. From there, the flour is kneaded, cut up into slices, rolled into balls, and boiled until it becomes... boba!

Can you use white tapioca pearls for bubble tea? Yes, you can use white tapioca pearls (it has different cooking instructions), but I would soak them in sugar syrup or honey after cooking so they taste sweet. Otherwise, white tapioca pearls are fairly unflavored.

How long do homemade Boba pearls last? ›

Cooked pearls will last 4 hours at room temperature. Refrigerated pearls can last up to 3 days. However, these will not retain their original texture. While it is possible to freeze boba, we don't recommend freezing as the boba won't be soft and chewy.

Place the tapioca in a large bowl with a quart of cold water. Cover and allow the tapioca to soak for at least 12 hours. When ready to use, use a fine mesh strainer to drain off the water and set the soaked pearls aside.

Bring the water to a boil over high heat. Add the boba and stir gently until they begin floating to the top of the water. Cook the boba: Turn the heat to medium and cook the boba for 12 to 15 minutes. Remove the pan from heat, cover, and let the pearls sit for another 12 to 15 minutes.

Tapioca Pearl 30/30 Method

Bring a pot of water to a rumbling boil on high heat. Stir water while slowly adding in tapioca, stir until all the boba have risen. After 30 minutes, turn off heat, cover with lid and let rest another 30 minutes. Strain boba and wash under cold running water to remove excess starch.

Give it a stir and pour the boba pearls in. They should float to the surface within the first 30-45 seconds. If they don't float you may have a bad batch or you may not have allowed the water to boil all the way before adding the boba. Allow the boba to cook for 10-12 minutes, stirring every so often.

Black Tapioca Pearls, also known as boba, originated in Taiwan and are made of the starch derived from cassava root. Unlike typical boba, Tea Zone Chewy Tapioca Pearls are chewy on the inside and the outside.

The ingredients for Popping Boba consist of water, sugar, fruit juice, calcium lactate, seaweed extract, malic acid, potassium sorbate, coloring, and fruit flavorings. The main ingredient is the seaweed extract, which is considered to be the outer shell of the Popping Boba.

The bubbles in bubble tea are made from tapioca flour, which is a starch. Unlike wheat flour, which contains starches, protein and fiber, tapioca flour contains only starch. And the secret to making bubbles lies in the way starch particles interact with water.

“It's probably overpriced because the demand for it is high so the people are willing to pay more for it.” Furthermore, many boba stores range their drinks somewhere between $4 and $6 for each drink, charging extra for the addition of toppings such as boba or jelly and an increase in the size of the drink.

Unfortunately, boba itself provides very few health benefits, though its calories and carbohydrates can provide you with a boost in energy. In most cases, boba tea contains high levels of sugar, which is linked to long-term health conditions like diabetes and obesity.

What flavor is black boba? ›

The black coloring is created by added brown sugar or caramel coloring. In other words, black boba is simply tapioca with added coloring that makes it sweeter. The first taste of black boba can be a surprise. The texture is chewy and bouncy, with an almost licorice flavor to it.

Therefore, when we add all the tapioca starch to the water all at once, or when the water is not hot enough, some starch particles won't get a chance to be dissolved, they will be floating around in the water, in this way we will get an oobleck boba dough.

Both tapioca starch and tapioca flour are the same thing and can be used interchangeably.

Making boba pearls. As noted above, these are made with tapioca starch. You can buy this at any Asian store, but it's also available at Bob's Red Mill (sometimes as tapioca flour). Tapioca starch is very similar to cornstarch or cornflour, and as such, it doesn't form a dough when mixed with liquids.

All-purpose flour can replace tapioca flour in a 1:1 ratio in most recipes, though the texture may differ depending on what you're using it for. Tapioca flour creates a bright, glossy finish when used as a thickener for gravies, soups, and sauces.

To make tapioca flour from pearls, simply drop the pearls into a food processor (or, even better, a grain mill like with making superfine rice flour) and grind to a fine powder.

Tapioca flour comes from the root of the cassava plant. It basically the same thing as tapioca pearls, like you would use for pudding, but tapioca flour has been ground into a a flour. Tapioca flour/starch adds structure to gluten free baking.

How to Cook Tapioca Pearls: Instructions. Bring 6 cups water to a boil in a deep pot, and add the tapioca. Bring it to a boil again, cover, and turn the heat down to medium low. Cook covered for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking.

First, it is important to soak small pearl tapioca before attempting to make pudding with it, or the texture will be off. Some people soak overnight, but we found that 30 minutes or so worked with small tapioca, resulting in a lively textured tapioca with wonderful creamy, custard bridging the beads.

Are white and black tapioca pearls the same? ›

As mentioned previously – white, Tapioca pearls are made from either starch, caramel or chamomile extract. However, the more popular Tapioca pearls, which are black are made from starch, sweet potato and/or brown sugar.

Pearl tapioca is by far the most common preferred form used to create boba pearls and tapioca pudding, as well as other dessert items. Due to the dehydration process, the flakes or pearls will need to be soaked or boiled before being consumed.

Providing your bubble tea has been refrigerated overnight then yes - you can drink bubble tea the next day. However keep in mind that your bubble tea should be consumed within 24 hours of being refrigerated and if it contains dairy, may not keep as well.

Tapioca is poisonous when raw, but perfectly safe to eat and very nutritious when fully cooked or processed. Most tapioca starch currently on the market is safely made in factories and presents no risk of poisoning.

Sometimes if the tapioca pearls get too cold or come into direct contact with the ice before other liquid has been added, they can start to harden. Adding the ice last should help keep the boba soft and chewy. It's common to see boba tea served both with and without ice.

Your pudding texture just won't turn out right if you don't soak the tapioca pearls first. Recipes often say to soak for 12 hours, but you can cut that down to 30 minutes and still achieve the creamy, custard-like texture that makes tapioca pudding so delicious. Soaking is easy!

Remove the lid and stir often so that the pearls don't stick to one another. The balls are ready when they're completely translucent with a small white dot in the middle. A finished tapioca pearl should be slightly chewy with a bit of resistance and not at all mushy.

The bubbles in bubble tea are made from tapioca flour, which is a starch. Unlike wheat flour, which contains starches, protein and fiber, tapioca flour contains only starch. And the secret to making bubbles lies in the way starch particles interact with water.

What is Boba Made From? Boba is made from tapioca starch, also known as cassava starch, which is why they're often also labeled as "tapioca pearls." They're small spheres that are often simmered in a brown sugar syrup to give them a sweet taste and dark black color.

Unfortunately, boba itself provides very few health benefits, though its calories and carbohydrates can provide you with a boost in energy. In most cases, boba tea contains high levels of sugar, which is linked to long-term health conditions like diabetes and obesity.

How long does bubble pearls last? ›

After cooking the tapioca pearls, put them in a container and coat with sugar or sugar syrup. This should be kept at room temperature or a bit warmer, but do not put in the refrigerator or freezer. The cooked tapioca pearls should be consumed within 8-10 hours.

Cooking Boba

Boil 8 cups of water and add the dry tapioca pearls. Allow this to cook on for 6-8 minutes on medium-high heat. Turn to low heat and allow this to cook for another 5-10 minutes. Remove the tapioca pearls from the boiling water once these begin to float to the surface.

TLDR: Boba tea and bubble tea both refer to the same thing - a milk tea or fruit tea drink. Boba can also refer to tapioca pearls a.k.a boba balls (the squishy topping often found in a bubble tea).

The tea became known as boba because the term is slang for breasts in Chinese (a reference the spherical shape of the tapioca balls).

It depends—although traditional bubble tea is made with cow's milk, and is therefore not dairy-free, bubble tea can be customised to be made with non-dairy milk and other vegan alternatives. You can also get flavoured fruit bubble tea, which doesn't contain milk at all.

A comparison showing the sugar level in seven types of bubble tea orders revealed that the unhealthiest option was brown sugar milk tea with pearls as it contained 18.5 teaspoons of sugar. Winter melon tea comes in at a close second with 16 teaspoons of sugar.

Livestrong explains that the beverage is not only unhealthy but also lacks proper nutrients. Even the healthiest version of it carries 150 calories for one serving. Because of this, the healthy living website recommends having the beverage occasionally.

But there are a few reasons to enjoy this sweetened beverage in moderation. Drinking too much of it may increase your chances of developing diet-related diseases and leave you constipated. "One to two cups a day should be fine, but you shouldn't consume anything in excess," advised Dr. Kushnir.

The process to store the cooked boba tapioca pearls is quite simple. They can be left at room temperature for 4 hours or placed in simple sugar syrup and after that be refrigerated for 72 hours. Besides, you can extend the lifespan of boba tapioca pearls by freezing.

Similar to any food substance, both uncooked and cooked boba pearls can go bad due to their starchy composition; with cooked boba pearls spoiling faster because of their high sugar content.