Are you looking to make your own Boba at home? We have recipes for burst boba using Gatorade as well as the recipe to pop boba beads by using Sodium Alginate.
If you prefer calling them popping boba, burst bubbles, popping boba, juice balls or popping bubbles, everyone seems to enjoy the amazing taste of Boba.
If you’ve been to an establishment selling frozen yogurt and seen the Boba gel beads that love to play with or the beads you find in drinks such as “Boba Tea” or “Bubble Tea,” and we’ll demonstrate how to make boba pops at home.
It is possible to make Boba pearls in your own home by using easy ingredients and label it as a fun experiment in science.
What is Boba?
Boba is filled with liquid bubbles of fruity juices that pop up in your mouth after drinking.
The cooking method used that is used in cooking is called molecular gastronomy.
It’s food science, which studies the physical and chemical transformation of food ingredients during cooking.
Boba is composed of fruit juice (without calcium) blended with powdered sodium alginate and then dripped into a chilled calcium chloride solution.
If you want to learn more you can read my comprehensive guide on what exactly Crystal Boba is.
Where did Boba come from?
Taiwan is the pioneer of the traditional Boba.
In Taiwan, it’s zhenzhu naicha (Zhen Zhu Nai Cha ). It’s referred to as Q or QQ, and can be commonly found within tea establishments.
Boba’s origins are still open to debate.
One legend claims that Hanlin Tea Room was one of the tea shops located in Tainan was the first to be created.
The Legend of Lin Hsui-Hui:
Another legend attributes credit to an Chun Shui Tang employee, Lin Hsiu-hui.
In the 1980s, Liu Han Chieh owned a Taichung tea shop called Chun Shui Tang in which cold tea was served.
The product manager of the company, Lin Hsiu Hui, was a few years after, attended a meeting with the staff and dropped tapioca ball into her iced tea. The rest is the rest is history.
Where Does Boba Get Its Name?
While everyone has their own opinion on who came up with it, the source to the word “boba” is agreed on.
Amy Yip, a Hong Kong sexuality symbol during the 1980s. Her nickname was “Boba,” (it’s Chinese expression for her famous body parts).
How Is Crystal Boba Made?
- Place 1 cup of vegetable oil in glass, then place it within the refrigerator for 40 minutes.
- In a medium-sized saucepan, mix Gatorade and Agar powder.
- At medium-high temperature Bring Gatorade and agar mixture to a boil , stirring.
- Pour Gatorade mixtures in a heatproof bowl, and let it cool for 20 minutes.
- Get the oil out of the freezer.
- Fill a glass with the Gatorade mix and then pour this into your oil.
- When the juice is absorbed, it will form into a ball, and then sink.
- Utilizing a slotted spoon transfer the beads into the bowl of water to wash.
- The mesh drains beads and then is used as a strainer.
- Consume the beads, or use them to make ice cream toppings or add them to iced tea.
Tips:
- Pearls of oil in solid form that don’t pop.
- If the oil isn’t cold enough, once the spheres are at their bottoms, they remain liquid and will not be able to merge. (you may have to keep your oil frozen for about 1-2 hours)
- If the agar solution isn’t sufficiently heated, it will not be sufficiently hydrated to form the gel.
- A dropper may not provide the ideal ball shape due to the way that the drop falls on the surface of the ocean.
- Try experimenting with the distance that drops over the surface of water (lower will be more even since the flavoring liquid isn’t striking the water’s surface with a lot of force.
How to Make Crystal Boba for Teas and Milk
You can also branch out and make use of Sodium Alginate to provide you with a greater selection of flavors. You can make use of any juice of your choice to make the bouncy boba that pops.
Sodium Alginate Popping Boba
- 5.3 8 ounces of your most-loved fruit juice*
- 5 grams sodium alginate
- 50 grams of drinking water
- 6 grams calcium lactate
- 4 1/4 cups of water**
- 2 cups of clean water to wash.
- food coloring of your choice optional
How to Make Crystal Boba Using Sodium Alginate:
- A large container put in distilled water and calcium lactate. Let it sit for at least four hours (four hours is suggested (overnight is ideal)).
- In a separate bowl, mix the drinking water and the sodium alginate. Stir until it becomes smooth and thickened.
- Slowly stir the juice of the fruit in the salt alginate/water mix and then whisk until it is smooth. Include any food coloring you like here.
- Give the solution of calcium lactate and water the opportunity to stir.
- Pour the juice mixture into your syringe or dropper and slowly drop drops of calcium lactate solution. Drops are supposed to be left in the solution for up to 10 minutes*.
- Transfer the water for rinsing to another large bowl to wash the pearls of boba.
- Serve bowls of pop!
Tips
Choose a drink with a low-calcium content drink (green tea coffee, mango, lycheeand strawberry etc.). A high calcium content, such as orange juice, is unlikely to perform as it can cause clumping.
It’s recommended to use authentic fruit juice that has an acidity below 3.6 could cause problems. Choose one that isn’t too acidic.
* the tap water is fine However, if your water is too hard, it may be necessary to utilize distillate water.
Make use of a caviar machine as well as a kit for spherifying caviar boxes when you’re making large quantities of boba at one time.
It is a one-percent solution for 100ml juice (1gram sodium alginate per 100ml juice). A little more will not alter the taste too much.
Mini Boba: The smaller the spheres get, the more difficult they’ll be to get into the salt alginate pool.
The more thick a liquid the greater its surface tension it’ll have.
* The more time the globe is in water, the more dense the gel becomes.
A dropper may not give you the perfect ball shape due to how the drop drops onto the surface of the water. Test the drop distance over the water (lower will result in a more uniform drop because the flavoring liquid isn’t striking the surface of the water with a lot of force.
