Bouncing Boba Bubble Drink!

I have the travel bug, but I think the only place I will be going to this summer is to the market.

That doesn't mean we have to make the same old thing, it is summer let's taste the world.

My daughter has been begging us to take her to China, she wants to meet a Chinese Princess. She is 5 and very much ready to see the world.

I figured the next best thing was to go to the Asian Market and pick up some fresh Shanghai noodles

and some rainbow Boba.  First stop China!

Boba or tapioca pearls are used to make bubble tea a refreshing tapioca drink with origins in China but has spread through Asia and is gaining popularity everywhere. Boba come in black and other colors, they all taste the same.  The Boba sit in the bottom of the drink, you must suck the balls up through a large straw.  I would not recommend serving this to anyone under 4 as the balls are large and could potentially get stuck in a tiny throat. You could more common regular tapioca that would be safe for little ones.  Bubble tea can be made with milk, milk substitute or fruit based mix.  I wanted to make it easy to make at home and use ingredients I had on hand.  The Boba themselves are tasteless so the usual way to make them is boil them until they are soft, drain and mix with simple syrup or honey, I used agave nectar. 

We had some peach Jello mix in the cupboard so we mixed a bit in with milk, sweetened condensed milk and water. Then we mixed in the Boba and slurped them through a straw.

You could add the sweetened

Boba to lemonade, mango nectar, plain milk,soy milk,  shakes, or tapioca pudding.

Kids love color and I can imagine that big rainbow balls in a bowl of tapioca pudding would be really pretty. 

Boba or Tapioca pearls are a fun and silly treat.

As for the noodles, we prepared them according to package directions and then stir fried them with some mushrooms and kale and a splash of soy sauce.  Eating the noodles and Boba was fun and made dinner go smoothly.