Normally, boba or tapioca pearls are added to drinks such as bubble tea, milk tea, iced coffee, and smoothies.
Tapioca Pearls give your drinks a fun chewy gummy texture as well as a unique flavour. Nevertheless, you need to know how to store boba properly to prevent them from losing their flavour and chewiness.
To keep your tapioca pearls as fresh as possible, I am providing you with some tips on how to store them appropriately no matter how they are made, whether they are homemade or store-bought.
Tapioca Pearls (Boba): Storage Instructions
Three methods can be used to store cooked tapioca pearls. The methods are:
- For 4 hours or more at room temperature
- Refrigerated for 72 hours after placing in a simple syrup.
- Additionally, they may also be frozen to significantly extend their shelf life.
Tapioca pearls can be frozen after cooking.
Tapioca pearls can be cooked in large quantities and used as needed. The leftovers can then be frozen. In addition to preserving the chewiness and consistency of your Boba Tapioca Pearls, this technique will make them last longer.
Tapioca pearls can be frozen after cooking
- As usual, prepare your tapioca.
- Store it in a zip-top bag.
- Make sure all the air is squeezed out.
- Once the bag is frozen, lay it flat in the freezer.
- Take out the frozen tapioca pearls when you need them, and boil them in water in a pot.
- Bring the water to a boil and allow it to simmer for a few minutes. Frozen pearls will be defrosted this way.
- Let the tapioca pearls drain and rinse in water.
- They can now be added to syrup or drinks.
Vacuum sealers are excellent for removing all the air from zipper bags. In addition to preserving your food much longer, a vacuum sealer is an investment, in my opinion.
Tapioca pearls should be refrigerated after cooking
The most common way for bubble tea shops to keep cooked boba fresh for several days in the refrigerator is to keep it in simple sugar syrup.
Transfer them to an airtight container or cover them tightly with plastic wrap while they are in syrup. In the refrigerator, they have a shelf life of 36 hours.
Once they have hardened and become crunchy in the middle, they will gradually start to harden and harden.
Here are the steps for making simple syrup
In a separate saucepan, combine equal parts sugar and water and occasionally stir until sugar is dissolved.
Pour the syrup over the Boba once it has finished cooking, and allow it to soak for several minutes before refrigerating.
Store tapioca pearls at room temperature
If eaten within a few hours of cooking, tapioca pearls are at their best.
Leaving Tapioca Pearls at room temperature for four hours is recommended.
The quality of Tapioca Pearls will be reduced if kept at room temperature beyond this point.
To avoid having to refrigerate or freeze the pearls at the end of the 4-hour period, cook only a small amount of them.
Storage of Tapioca Packages
The majority of uncooked tapioca pearls or Boba come in sealed packages, so you should store them in a cool, dry place such as a pantry or cupboard below 77 °F (25 °C).
Boba that has not been opened or packaged at a store are dehydrated and will last for months and maybe even years in your cupboard. The condensation in a refrigerator will inevitably moisten them, so do not put them in the refrigerator.
The Tapioca or Boba Pearls also come with an expiration date, so you should use them before the expiration date.
What to do after opening tapioca pearls
Tapioca Pearls should be kept fresh if you are not planning to use them all once you open the package.
Remove all the air from the remaining ingredients and seal them in a sealed food-safe plastic bag. Make sure the bag is cool and dry.
If the pearls are left over uncooked, try to use them within two days for the best quality.
The tapioca doesn’t need to be kept in the refrigerator, as long as the pearls weren’t sold in the refrigerator section when you bought them or unless the manufacturer advises otherwise.
Dried and frozen homemade tapioca
Tapioca can be frozen if you don’t intend to cook it right away.
Homemade Tapioca Pearls: How to Freeze Them
- To make tapioca balls, first, make the dough to the right consistency.
- After that, roll your tapioca balls into uniform shapes, which will help them cook more evenly.
- Once shaped, the Tapioca Pearls can be placed without touching each other on a cookie sheet.
- Place the sheet in the freezer, covering it with plastic wrap.
- Place the pearls into a sealed container and freeze until they are hard and will not stick together.
Homemade Tapioca Pearls: How to Dry Them
It is possible to shape and dry tapioca to prolong its shelf life further than just freezing it.
- Make sure your tapioca ball dough is the right consistency before baking it.
- You should then roll your tapioca balls into uniform shapes. This will help them dry evenly.
- You can allow the Tapioca Pearls to dry on a cookie sheet without touching one another so as to prevent them from sticking together.
- The Tapioca Pearls must be gently rolled a few times in order to dry. The process may take three hours. So that the Tapioca Pearls are evenly dried, all sides must be dried in the same manner.
- The amount of time the pearls require to dry varies according to their size.
- You should shake the cookie sheet gently after the first hour of drying so the pearls can roll and change position.
- Continue shaking after the second and third hours as well.
- Your pearls will begin to change texture after that. Your pearls will become stiffer and harder.
- In food-safe containers, they can be frozen as soon as they have been completely dried.
The Tapioca Pearls can be placed in vacuum bags after being dried, and the vacuum bags can then be placed in the freezer. It takes between 6 months and a year for this method to take effect.
Conclusion: How Long Can You Store Boba in the Fridge
One of the most common questions asked by people is how long can you store Boba in the fridge. Boba is a cold drink that is popular in Asian countries like China and Taiwan. It has a creamy texture, sweet taste, and milky colour. It’s made from tapioca pearls that are soaked in water to soften them before they’re blended with milk and sugar, then mixed with ice and served cold. How Long Can You Store Boba in the Fridge? You should store Boba in the fridge for up to two weeks after opening it because it will keep its original flavour and texture.
Frequently Asked Questions
There are two ways to store boba pearls: in the liquid or on the surface of the liquid.
In both cases, you should store them in a container with an airtight seal. The liquid can also be stored in a freezer for long-term storage.
The storage time is dependent on the type of boba pearls and how they are stored. If you use milk tea, you should store them for about three days. Some people suggest that storing them for 6 to 7 days will give you a longer shelf life, but this is not always true.
The idea of boba is to have a cold drink that is sweet and refreshing. However, as the popularity of boba shops has increased, it has become harder to tell if the drink has gone bad.
How do you know if boba is expired?
One way to tell if your boba is bad would be by smell. If it smells like rotten milk and mould, then it’s not good anymore. You could also check the expiry date on the package, but this can be hard because some packages are difficult to open or don’t have an expiry date on them.
The best way to prevent food spoilage is to use a refrigerator or freezer.
However, in the case of boba tea, the process is not so easy. The boba balls have a shelf life of about 5 hours, which means that you should drink your tea within that time frame.
If you are a regular drinker of boba tea and you find yourself with an expiring pack at home, don’t worry – there’s nothing to worry about! Just keep in mind to consume it within 5 hours, and you will be fine.
If you eat expired boba, it can cause diarrhoea and cramps. The boba may also become slimy if it has been sitting around for too long.
