All You Need To Know About Popping Boba

  Popping boba is one of my favorites types of boba. The others are great too, including the original tapioca pearls, but I can’t kick my fruit habit. Here we will cover what popping boba is and many aspects of it. 

What do popping pearls taste like?

Popping pearls have the flavor of whatever the flavor of the popping boba is. There are many fruit flavors with the actual fruit juice inside of them. There is even a chocolate and yogurt kind.
So you can expect each type to taste just like their fruit counterparts. This can however depend on the brand that you get. Before the boba bursts in the mouth, the outer shell has a slight taste of the flavor eaten. 
 Some of the most popular fruit flavors are strawberry, mango, and peach. 

How does popping boba work?

Popping boba is sometimes called exploding boba, because it works by usually surprising the eater by bursting with juice when consumed.
This is also why popping boba has been called bursting boba.
It is a simple new way of consuming boba that many regions have made their favorite. A lot of individuals like the effects, while some don’t like surprises like this, and find traditional tapioca pearls more preferable.
Bursting boba is predominantly juice, which makes up over 90% of the boba, while the rest is other ingredients held in by a thin outer layer of seaweed.
This layer is very fragile, and breaks very easily when placed in the mouth. Sometimes a few that are already broken can be found in the container with the rest.

How To Eat Popping Boba

Popping pearls is eaten in two ways: By sucking them through a boba straw in a bubble tea drink, and by eating them straight out of the container with your hands or a spoon.
They aren’t swallowed whole, because doing so means that you will miss out on the flavors inside of the thin layer holding in the flavors.
They are popped first, usually in between the tongue and the roof of the mouth, then the outer layer is chewed and swallowed.
Popping pearls are placed inside of drinks to create bubble tea, but also used as a topping on top of other foods like icecream.
Sometimes they are mixed with other boba toppings and eaten with a spoon.

Is Popping Boba Safe to Eat?

Popping boba is one of the safest boba toppings to consume, because it is the safest out of the tapioca pearls and jelly bobas.
The risks of choking is reduced since they break so easily and turn into juice. This makes them a better choice for children, than the regular tapioca pearls.
They often burst immediately with minimal effort needed.

How much sugar does popping pearls have?

One teaspoon full of popping pearls contains around 4 calories, 1 carb, 4.5 milligrams of calcium, and around 0.8 grams of sugar.
This means that a whole cup of popping pearls would have around 38 grams of sugar.  The normal amount found in a boba drink would be about a third of this amount (about 12.5 grams of sugar).
This is a lot less than the sugar amount found in tapioca pearls dipped in sugars. Eating a whole cup of popping pearls isn’t the usual, but its nice to have a basis to go off of. 

Does popping boba have gluten?

One of the ingredients found in the tea zone popping pearls (one of the best brands) is starch.
Tapioca pearls are also made with starch, but are gluten free.
Popping boba is still gluten free even though it contains starch as one of its ingredients, since gluten is found in wheats and oats, not in starch.
Wheat, oats, rye, or barley is not found in popping pearl’s ingredients.

Do popping pearls go bad?

Popping pearls are often made with fruit syrups, which means that they last longer than you think.
I purposely left out some popping pearls at room temperature for 2 weeks, and they have shown no signs of decay, rot, or smell. They actually still smell pleasantly like fruit.
Dried seaweed, just like syrup, lasts for a very long time. Syrup can last for years, while dried seaweed can last indefinitely.
I wouldn’t recommend leaving them out in room temperature though for other reasons.

Does popping boba expire?

Popping boba has to be stored in the refrigerator after the container is opened.  Before this, they can be kept in a cool and dry place, away from sunlight and heat.
Popping boba lasts around 9 months in the container before they are opened, so they do eventually expire. In the refrigerator, they can be perfectly fine even after 3 months.

In room temperature they can expire a lot faster once opened.

How To Store Popping Boba

As mentioned, popping boba should be stored in a cool dry area away from heat before they are opened. Once they are opened, they should be placed in the refrigerator. Keep them in an airtight container.
A cabinet is a good place to store unopened containers of popping pearls. Dark areas are normally cooler, preventing sunlight from heating them up. 
Poppings pearls shouldn’t be stored in the freezer. Storing them in the freezer will mess up the quality of the balls, causing them to deflate and shrivel when thawed. Some of them will survive the process, but others won’t. 
Plus when they are frozen, ice will generate around the boba, and they will begin to stick to one another, forming clumps. Breaking them while they are frozen, will destroy the texture.

Do I have to cook popping pearls?

No. Popping boba doesn’t need to be cooked, they are ready right out of the container.
This makes a convenient quick snack or topping for your drinks and desserts.

Does popping boba dissolve?

Popping boba doesn’t dissolve like candy would over time when placed in the mouth. It bursts and leaves the thin outer layer behind. Since most of it is juice, there isn’t really anything left to dissolve. 

They can handle being placed into cold and hot beverages, but will turn more into liquid over time.