How To Make Homemade Tapioca Pearls

Chewy Tapioca is an essential part of bubble tea and making your own can be a great way to stand out. We can definitely tell when tapioca has been hand-made with care.

The process may take you up to 1 hour which has been fun and rewarding - Great to try out with family and friends.

Benefits of making your own Tapioca Pearls.

1. We've loved trying out different recipes - in comparison to Tapioca Pearls that are reserved for your stores, the texture is soft, tasty and fresh. 

2. If you're conscious about your sugar intake you can flavour your tapioca pearls using as much sugar flavour as you like. 

3. You can create different flavours such as honey boba or brown sugar by substituting the sugar with the required sweetener. For example, honey boba uses honey or white sugar; brown sugar tapioca uses brown sugar; black pearl tapioca uses brown sugar and black food colouring in order to achieve its dark colour. 

How to make Tapioca Pearls

Recipe
1. 3/4 cup tapioca starch and a bit more for dusting
2. 2 tbsp dark brown sugar
3. 5 tablespoons hot water

Instructions
1. Heat up the water and sugar over medium heat and wait until the sugar has dissolved. Then turn off the heat.
2. Add about 1 tablespoon of the tapioca starch until it is well combined and make sure there are no lumps.
3. Turn the heat on again and stir the mixture until it starts thickening.
Once it becomes thicker, remove from the heat.
4. Add the rest of the tapioca starch and mix well until you obtain a sticky dough.
5. Lightly flour the surface with tapioca starch and knead the dough, rolling it out until it is uniform.
6. Roll out the dough into thin long pen-like pieces.
7. Cut the pieces into smaller 5mm - 10mm tapioca pearl portions.
Consider that they will expand when cooked later.
8. Quickly roll the smaller pieces into a ball.
Lightly moisten up your fingers if you find that the pieces are crumbing.

Cooking Process
1. In a large pot, boil enough water at a high temperature to cover the tapioca pearls.
Having more water is better than less as the water can evaporate and become starchy.
2. Once the water has come up to a vigorous boil, add the freshly made tapioca into the boiling pot of water.
Keep temperature at high for the next 20 minutes.
3. Stir the tapioca continuously for the next 2 minutes until they have risen to the top of the boiled water.
5. After 20 minutes, reduce the heat to medium heat for another 10 minutes. At this point ensure that you
top up the water in the pot with freshly boiled kettle water.
6. After 10 minutes is over- turn off the heat and put the lid on. Allow the tapioca to seep for another 10minutes.

Cleaning Process
1. Once the tapioca pearls have sunk down to the bottom, pour out the starchy water into the sink.
Keeping tapioca at the bottom of the pot.
2. Rinse the pearls in the pot until water runs clear and pearls no longer have a sticky starchy coating.
3. Drain the pearls out onto a colander and ensure it is cool from the hot water.

How to store freshly made Tapioca Pearls

For the best texture, keep the tapioca pearls at room temperature seeped in a fructose syrup or house sweetener in order to keep its chewy texture.
When tapioca pearls are not submerged in a liquid they can harden within the first hour.

How to store uncooked Tapioca Pearls

If you are making raw tapioca pearls ahead of time you can store it in an air tight container in a cool dry place for up to 1 week. You can also freeze the tapioca pearls by spreading them out onto a sheet tray for 2-3hours until solid. Then transfer the solidified pearls into an air tight container and keep in the freezer for up to 6weeks.