BOBA PEARLS

We sincerely believe that boba is what have brought us to become a close-knit community, Asian and non-Asian, and that our boba standards and requirements have been higher than ever, coming down to the very chew and elasticity of the boba pearl. That's why today, we are introducing to you our own recipe for boba pearls. Trial after trial, we have narrowed it down to a few things here and there that help you to achieve the perfect chewy and soft texture for your boba pearls, and we'll be explaining why, too!

I. Ingredients:

170g o. tapioca starch

25g o. rice flour

150ml o. water

10g o. natural cocoa powder

50g o. brown sugar

Why tapioca starch AND rice flour? Tapioca starch provides chew, elasticity, and body. While that sounds perfect already, we wanted a touch of tenderness to the pearl, hence the rice flour.

Why NATURAL cocoa, NOT Dutch processed? The main difference between natural cocoa powder and Dutch processed is that natural cocoa powder is lighter and more acidic, while Dutch processed cocoa powder is much more intense in both color and chocolaty flavor. Because we're using cocoa powder in this recipe to add color and taste only, we’d like to reach for something more subtle. Unless you’d like to have a very chocolaty and espresso-ish note to your pearls, that's perfectly fine.

II. Instructions:

Mix all dry ingredients together

Heat water and brown sugar, bring the mixture to a simmer.

Add the wet mixture, spoonful by spoonful, into the dry ingredients. Remember to keep the wet mixture still simmering and on the stove while mixing, because heat acts as a catalyst

How much of the water and sugar solution you have to use also depends on the temperature and humidity of your environment also. Though we tried to alter it to a near-perfect amount of 150ml considering all elements, you should stop once you've kneaded a non-sticky dough that can STRETCH. This is important. Too little water, the dough won't form and the pearls will be hard. Too much water, and you'll have a wet dough. You can always add in more tapioca starch once the dough is too wet.

Cut into portions, form strands, and start forming your delicious pearls! Shape the pear in the MIDDLE of your palm, that's how you get the perfect sphere. Meanwhile, cover your unused dough that’s waiting to be shaped with A DAMP TOWEL. We don’t recommend using plastic wrap cause it doesn't retain as much moisture for the dough and not that eco-friendly.

Bring a pot of clean water to a boil, then drop the amount o. pearls you need in, turn the heat down to a medium, and cook them for 20 minutes. Remember to boil the water BEFORE putting the pearls in, because as we mentioned above, starches only activate when there's heat. Once it's activated, they start to swell and release strands of starches that will act as a protective shield around the pearl, preventing them from sticking to one another. Or all the boba pearls will stick together and become one hot goop mess.

If you like your boba sweet and rich, add around 35-45g o. brown sugar to your hot boba pearls and heat them up until the sugar is all melted.

There you have it! Boba pearls for dayssss! Good luck and enjoy