How many flavors of boba tea have you tried? Are you curious to know about the small pearls in your bubble tea? Do you want to know what are tapioca pearls made of? Well, most people want to know this. These small pearls in the bubble tea or boba tea are something because of which this famous tea got its name.
These colorful pearls in boba tea are original white. Adding different flavors gives them different colors that are very eye-catching. Most people like bubble tea just because of these small tapioca pearls. These black, white, and colorful bubbles not only got people’s attention but also made them very inquisitive about their origin.
Here, we will discuss what the boba balls are? What are tapioca pearls made of? And whether they are healthy or not.
Table of Content
What are tapioca pearls made of in bubble tea?
What are boba balls made of? What are boba pearls made of? What are tapioca balls made out of? Tapioca is a starch that is extracted from cassava roots. It is native to the Amazon rainforest as well as Brazil, Columbia, Venezuela and throughout other parts of Central America. The name tapioca is derived from two words tippy oka from the native language of Brazil.
In some parts of the world, people use tapioca as a thickening agent. It is completely gluten-free and it has no protein to it. If we talk about, what do tapioca pearls taste like? These pearls are kind of bland and sticky. They do not have their taste. They are steeped in a caramelized syrup to give them a sweeter taste.
Cassava root itself can be cooked like a potato. You can boil or fry it. Commercially, you can get tapioca in a bunch of different forms. You will find it as flour in your baking aisle. You can also find it in different shapes. You can get the rectangular and sticky tapioca, you can get tapioca flakes or you can also get these little spherical balls. The small balls are often used in tapioca pudding, the larger ones are used in bubble tea.
Many people want to know what a tapioca pudding ball is made of. So, this is the answer. Those balls are also made of starch from cassava root extract.
Regardless of the form that you get in, you are going to have to reconstitute it with some water. Tapioca will suck a lot of the water. One part tapioca will take two or even three parts of water. Tapioca has no flavor to it and it’s a great thickening agent.
What are black pearls in bubble tea made of?
What are milk tea pearls made of? What are tea pearls made of? What is black boba made of? What are sago pearls made of? Bubble tea lovers ask such types of questions. Bubble tea has enjoyed immense popularity in recent years. Bubble tea shops are popping up in different parts of the world, particularly in malls and street corners.
The unique and sweet-tasting drink is recognizable to most of us because of the tapioca pearls found at the bottom of the cup that contains it, and of course, the wide straws to sip them with. In New York, they call bubble tea, but in other parts of the west, it is called boba.
Tapioca balls come from tapioca, a starch extracted from cassava root. Cassava is a nutty-flavored root vegetable native to South America and it is also a major food staple in developing countries. It contains nearly twice the calories of potatoes making it a large source of energy primarily because of its carbs and sugar content. While it has a lot of calories, it completely lacks any nutrients.
Tapioca Pearls Cancer
According to a German study, the small tapioca balls contain cancer-causing substances. The worst cassava can poison you due to its levels of cyanide. The tapioca starch has to be detoxified before consuming it. If you ingest it raw, the toxicity in cassava can cause headache, vomiting, nausea, paralysis, and even death.
How to make boba pearls with cornstarch?
White tapioca pearls can also be made from cornstarch. Simply, they use cornstarch instead of the starch extracted from the cassava root, but the tapioca pearls made from cornstarch are not of the same texture as those that are made from cassava starch extract.
The starch is boiled with sugar and cooked until it gets the form of soft, rubbery dough. Then it is rounded in the shape of small balls and the balls are boiled and stepped in caramelized syrup.
The Bottom Line
When bubble tea was first introduced in the 1980s the beverage contained the smaller tapioca pearls which were typically used in desserts during that time. Later on, bubble tea shops started to sell the drink containing the larger tapioca balls called boba.
So far, we have discussed that, what are tapioca pearls made of? If we talk about their size, it has evolved over the years. Veteran bubble tea drinks all know that the size of tapioca balls in bubble tea can vary. Today the larger size boba is a more widely preferred ingredient in making this popular drink.
FAQs
Are tapioca pearls healthy?
Tapioca pearls are made from pure starch. It lacks nutrients and has no significant health benefits or side effects, however, it is useful for those who eat a gluten-free diet.
Are tapioca pearls cancerous?
According to a German study, tapioca balls contain cancer-causing agents. They contain PCBs, the chemicals that are involved in causing many diseases.
Why are tapioca balls bad for you?
Tapioca pearls are empty calories. They lack essential nutrients. In addition to it, they contain no protein and 1 cup has 544 calories. So, too many tapioca balls can be bad for you.
What are the little balls in tapioca?
These are the starch of cassava roots and are molded in the shape of pearls. Cassava is found in tropical areas and its starch is used to make bubble tea pearls, the little balls in tapioca.
