boba--sort of

[asakiyume]

When I make casabe, I grate cassava and then squeeze out the fluid. The fluid is always milky white--cassava starch, aka, tapioca. The last time I did this, I let that starch dry... and there it was, actual tapioca, like I buy in the store! That I made out myself! Not very much (maybe a tablespoon's worth), but still!

I decided to use my homemade tapioca (generously supplemented with store-bought tapioca) to make boba, the bubbles in bubble tea. First step was to find some guidance on how to do this.

You have to bring a sugar-water solution (to which you can add cocoa powder or green tea if you want) to a boil, take it off the burner, and then add the tapioca starch. The heat causes the starch to somehow break apart on a molecular level (!) (Not an atomic level--that would be amazing, though: boiling-water-induced fission), and then you can sort of knead it as if it had gluten (which it doesn't). Then you flatten it out...

(you can click through on all of these to see them bigger if you want)


Then the (for me) hard part, cutting or breaking off small pieces and forming them into balls. If you have too much liquid, the balls won't stay balls--they flump back down into a flat circle--but if you have too much tapioca, they are powdery and break apart. Anyway, I made some balls, but they were about twice as big as the boba you get in real bubble tea:



The directions I was following were kind of confusing because they detoured into how you can store them at this point, but you can also just cook them right away. Cooking involves two separate boils. First, just in water. The time varies depending on the size of the boba. My main failure was that I didn't boil them for long enough--I was trying to have them finished by the time guests came. You want them to boil until they're almost entirely translucent, then turn off the water and let them sit until they get the rest of the way translucent. This means they're cooked all the way through. Mine never got that far, so they looked kind of adorably like frog eggs--or like ice cubes that are clear on the outside but opaque inside:





Then you put them to rest for a few minutes in cold water, and then you boil them again in sugar water syrup. The directions say to use brown sugar (which you can flavor if you want). I used panela, which is just solidified cane juice from crushed sugarcane and tastes delicious.



And then you put them in tea!

Mine were large, so you had to eat them with a spoon, and they had a center which, though not uncooked, was a different consistency from the outside--not ideal, but still tasty! I miiiight do it again sometime, but if I do, I'll try hard to make them smaller. But I might not do it again--it's easier to use tapioca starch for other delicious things, like pão de queijo (Brazilian cheese bread).

Comments

[sartorias]

Phew, that is a lot of work!

[asakiyume]

Fortunately it was entertaining--especially seeing the boba get (partially) translucent.

[sartorias]

Heh, bet it was!

[cmcmck]

I have to admit that I totally loathe tapiocs haing been fed too much tapioca pudding as a kid!

[asakiyume]

Well I wouldn't recommend bubble tea to you then, although the tapioca balls in bubble tea don't really bear any resemblance to tapioca pudding--the consistency is totally different.

[osprey_archer]

They DO look like frog eggs! I bet they cook through faster when they're smaller boba-sized bubbles, too. But hard to hold onto tapioca for making boba when the alternative is pão de queijo... I've never had it, but anything called "cheese bread" must be delicious.

[asakiyume]

Posting this entry made me attempt some smaller boba at lunchtime--just because! And they're turning out?

But pão de queijo is easier and VERY delicious.

[minoanmiss]

Pao de queijo is indeed so very delicious.

[light_of_summer]

Yay for experiments in cooking! Your partly-cooked boba do look interesting, and I'm glad they tasted fine and were fun to make.

I've never actually had boba tea*, and I have only vague and dubious memories of tapioca pudding. But I'm intrigued that tapioca starch is something that can sort of be kneaded—is it sticky, like regular bread dough is, before sufficient flour is incorporated?

*(Boba tea was unknown to me in the years before my food restrictions started accumulating. Fortunately, I can actually tell that I feel better when I avoid certain foods, so I stick to my set of complete avoidances and compromise minimizations...)

Thanks for making my morning more interesting!
🙂/\🙂

[asakiyume]

*nodding*

Very glad you have a regimen that means you feel better!

The boba can be added to all kinds of teas--not just black tea but green tea or herbal teas. The main thing about bubble tea as a phenomenon, at least in my experience of it locally, is that all the drinks are pretty sweet! When "pretty" is an understatement.

And thanks for reading--it's fun to have people to share with.

[sovay]

Mine never got that far, so they looked kind of adorably like frog eggs--or like ice cubes that are clear on the outside but opaque inside

They look amazing, even if texturally variable!

[asakiyume]

Yeah, I am thinking a little textural variability might be a good thing... don't get the results you're aiming for? Change what you're aiming for!

[mallorys_camera]

They definitely look like tapioca!

[asakiyume]

No disguises here!

[minoanmiss]

reads with delight

[asakiyume]

I am a delighter! I embrace my new status ^_^

[amaebi]

Thank you! You enrich my life!

[asakiyume]

Thank you very much--it's entirely mutual!

[rachelmanija]

I love that you did this.

[asakiyume]

Meanwhile, because this is a bumper year for acorns, I also have plans to make acorn bread again--which I did the first time thanks to our conversations... must have been over 10 years ago.

[rachelmanija]

Mail me some.

[asakiyume]

If I carry through on my intention, I will!

[med_cat]

Fascinating; quite a process ;)

(I must show oldest, she's partial to bubble tea...I've not tried it yet, myself ;))

[asakiyume]

They were tasty! But part of the fun of bubble tea is having it handed to you, a complete creation, so probably I won't make boba on the regular. Still, your daughter might want to try it just for fun, if cooking projects entertain her.

[med_cat]

:) I shall let you know if we attempt it ;)