Taro Boba Pearls (How To Make)

Taro boba pearls are boba pearls that are made from tapioca starch with real taro for taro flavoring. There are instant tapioca kinds that take little time to cook, but they aren’t the best boba pearls. The texture of them aren’t as good as the original tapioca pearls, and they are lacking in flavor. Here will we show how to make taro boba from scratch with a better quality, texture, and taste. They will be soft and chewy, with a good taro flavor.

The tapioca pearls will naturally become more chewy than original tapioca pearls, because of the real taro in them, but they will still be better texture than the instant pearls.

How To Make Taro Boba Pearls

These are made from taro using taro powder. They have the same health benefits of taro, plus the energy benefits from the tapioca pearls themselves. Making these will be easy if you are used to making the regular ones from scratch. If you have any trouble making the dough, please refer to the troubleshooting guide for fixing tapioca dough.

Equipment needed to make taro tapioca pearls:

• A non-stick pan.
• A heat resistant spatula.
• A measuring cup.
• A measuring spoon.

Ingredients for making taro tapioca pearls:

• 1.5 ounces of water.
• 4 tablespoons of taro powder.
  • The taro powder I used was a premium taro powder. It is one of the best taro powders.
• A pinch of xanthan gum.
• Tapioca starch or cassava flour.
  • Is tapioca starch if you have it, or cassava flour of you don’t. Either will work fine for this.

1. Put 1.5 ounces of water into the pan.

This is enough water for making the taro tapioca pearl’s dough.

2. Place the pan on the stove and heat it to medium-low heat.

This temperature is good enough for cooking the dough without it cooking too fast. I used a little less than medium.

3. Put 4 tablespoons of taro powder into the pan. Mix it into the water in the pan.

This will be enough taro powder to give the taro tapioca pearls some good flavor. You can use more or less if you like, but keep in mind that it has to be in correct proportion to the tapioca starch/cassava flour.

4. Add a pinch of xanthan gum into the taro in the pan. Immediately mix it in thoroughly.

A pinch of the xanthan gum is all that is needed. Try not to add more than this, else it could mess up the entire mixture by turning it instantly into jelly. Immediately mix the xanthan gum thoroughly into the taro in the pan.

5. Add in half tapioca starch (or cassava flour) according to the proportion of the taro mixture. Mix it thoroughly in with the taro.

Try not to add too much tapioca starch or cassava flour, but aim for half of the amount of your mixture. Thoroughly mix it into the taro, and remove all visible lumps.

6. Keep stirring the mixture on medium-low heat until it thickens into a really thick sticky blob paste.

After it has thickened really well, then it will be ready for some more tapioca starch/cassava flour.

7. Add in more tapioca starch/cassava flour according to the size of the blob into the pan.

Place the taro sticky blob on top of the tapioca starch/cassava flour and begin kneading the starch/flour into the taro dough with the spatula. Keep kneading in the starch/flour until the taro dough is no longer sticking, and can hold no more starch/flour.

8. Take the taro dough out of the pan and place it on a flat surface. Knead more starch/flour into with your hands.

Knead more tapioca starch/cassava flour into the taro dough until it can’t take anymore, and it becomes slightly grainy. As you knead in the starch/ flour, the dough will become smooth and sticky again. Keep repeating this process with your hands until the taro dough is no longer sticky. Then the dough will be ready to make taro tapioca pearls.

9. Form taro tapioca pearls from the taro dough.

Form the taro pearls by taking a small piece from the taro dough and rolling it into a ball in the palm of your hands. Make sure the taro pearls are big, but small enough to fit in a boba straw. Check the size of the first one by measuring it up against a boba straw, then make all the other pearls are around the same size or a bit smaller.

Gently roll them in a light coating of tapioca starch or cassava flour after they are formed to keep them from sticking to each other. They are now ready to cook.

They cook at the same times as the traditional tapioca pearls (30 minutes boiling, and 30 minutes simmering). Taro works best with sugar, so the taro boba pearls are best if they are soaked in a sugar mixture for atleast 10 minutes.