Tapioca Pearls

Prep Time: 15 mins

Bake Time: 25 mins

Ingredients:

• 100 g tapioca starch: 100 g tapioca starch: Tapioca starch is, unsurprisingly, the primary ingredient of tapioca pearls. In this recipe, I use Organic Tapioca Starch Flour which is made from cassava root starch.
• 50 g brown sugar: I prefer to add sugar to the dough, as the pearls taste bland or chalky without it. Depending on the color of the boba you want, you will need to use a specific kind of sugar. Or you also need to use specific food color to get the desired color of tapioca pearls.
• 80 ml + 8 cup water: To knead the dough and cook boba.

How To Make Tapioca Pearls?

1. Combine 30 grams of brown sugar with 60 milliliters of water and bring to a boil. Turn off the heat when it is bubbling and well-integrated. Mix thoroughly after adding half the tapioca starch. While the mixture is still warm, gradually add the remaining starch flour and stir well. The dough should be faintly sticky. Before moving on to the next step, give the mixture a moment to cool somewhat.
2. Knead the dough on a level surface. Roll out the dough with a little bit of flour and get it to approximately 1 to 1.5 centimeters thick. Cut them into 1.5 cm by 1.5 cm squares using a knife. Make little balls out of these in your hands. To keep the balls from clinging to one another, sprinkle on some dry tapioca starch.
3. To cook boba, bring eight cups of water to a boil and add in the uncooked tapioca pearls. Cooking this for 6 to 8 minutes over medium-high heat is sufficient. This should cook for a further five to ten minutes on low heat. When the tapioca pearls start to float to the top of the boiling water, remove them. Place the boba in an ice bath right away for one minute.
4. To make a syrup, bring 20 ml of water and remaining brown sugar to a boil in a separate pot and simmer for 5 minutes.
5. On low heat, add the tapioca pearls to the brown sugar syrup that has been made. Let this sit for at least 6–8 minutes, or longer until the syrup has reached the right thickness. Stir occasionally.
6. This can be added right away to hot beverages. However, before assembling a cold drink, let it rest for at least 10 minutes.

Assemble Bubble Tea:

Fill a glass halfway with the cooked boba and sugar syrup.  Pour tea and milk into a glass. I like using whole milk since it has more taste. You can choose whatever milk or cream you want to use. Stir everything together, taste the milk tea, and adjust the milk or sugar syrup amount as necessary. Enjoy the drink after adding ice cubes to the top!

Note:

Don’t try sucking the tapioca pearls up with all your might if they become stuck in the straw. That poses a choking hazard! Simply scoop the pearls up with a spoon.

How To Store Tapioca Pearls?

Uncooked pearls should be frozen for the best possible storage. Make sure tapioca flour has been used to sprinkle the pearls. Before transferring them to a freezer bag, freeze them in one layer on a dish covered with parchment for an hour. They will last for six months. The tapioca pearls may break when they freeze, but don’t worry—the crack will close up after cooking. When you are prepared to eat the boba, heat some water to a boil and prepare it as you would fresh boba.

Note:

• Incorporating the second quantity of flour requires prompt action. It won’t turn into dough otherwise. Since it can get rather hot while mixing this together, I advise using gloves or chopsticks.
• If the dough is too dry and crumbly, combine all of the dry flour. Sprinkle one tsp. of warm water over the flour and incorporate it into the dough. If extra water is required, add it. Try to avoid adding too much water all at once because the dough might become quite sticky very soon.
• On the other hand, if the dough is extremely sticky (as might happen when preparing boba with molasses), add a small amount of tapioca starch and stir it in. If the dough remains excessively sticky, add extra starch.
• Depending on the desired consistency, cook the boba for less or more time. Keep the heat at a medium-high level as you cook the outer layer of the tapioca pearls to achieve boba that is tender on the outside and slightly firm on the inside. Then, on low heat, simmer the little spheres to cook the center.
• Keep an eye on the brown sugar syrup’s consistency. I advise waiting until the syrup has thickened to a slightly runny consistency before adding the tapioca pearls. This should be thick enough to cover a spatula and not drip off immediately.