Recipe: On-the-Go Ginger Cucumber Boba Tea

On-the-Go Ginger Cucumber Boba Tea

Happy & Healthy Cooking,

Fun-Da-Mentals Kitchen Skills

• blend :

  to stir together two or more ingredients until just combined; blending is a gentler process than mixing.

• boil :

  to cook a food in liquid heated to the point of gas bubbles and steam forming (boiling point is 212 F at sea level).

• chop :

  to cut something into small, rough pieces using a blade.

• juice :

  to extract or squeeze out the juice of a fruit or vegetable, like a lemon, orange, or carrot, often cutting open or peeling the fruit or veggie first to access its flesh.

• knead :

  to work dough by pushing, pulling, and folding it by hand or with a stand mixer.

• roll :

  to use a rolling pin to flatten dough; use your hands to form a roll or ball shape; or move a round food, like a grape or a meatball, through another food, like sugar or breadcrumbs, to coat it.

• steep :

  to soak a food, like tea, in water or other liquid so as to bring out its flavor.

What is Boba or Bubble Tea?

• Boba tea, also called bubble tea or pearl tea, is a sweet tea-based drink, primarily using brewed black, green, or oolong teas. The drink can be made with or without milk, and sugar and various flavorings are also added. What makes the tea drink a "boba" are the soft, chewy boba pearls found in the bottom of the glass. Boba tea is typically served cold.
• The drink originated in Taiwan in the 1980s. There are two different stories about who first created it. One story credits the Hanlin Tea Room in 1986, saying the owner, Tu Tsung-ho, was inspired by the white tapioca balls, a snack food, he saw in a local market. He bought some, cooked them, then added them to milk tea. The other story says that in 1987, Lin Hsiu-hui, an employee of the Chun Shui Tang teahouse, mixed tapioca balls, her favorite snack, into her iced milk tea, inventing the drink. 
• Boba tea took off in the 1990s, spreading across East and Southeast Asia, and eventually coming to the United States when Taiwanese immigrants brought it to California.
• The boba pearls are typically made from tapioca starch or flour that has been mixed with boiling water, creating a dough. Commercial processors have different methods, but you can also make them at home. After creating the dough, roll it out into long cylindrical shapes, cut them into small pieces, and roll them into balls. Cook the tapioca balls in boiling water until they are cooked through to the center and become gelatinous, or jelly-like, and chewy. 
• Sometimes, popping boba are used in boba tea. These are made by a culinary process called "spherification." This process uses sodium alginate and either calcium chloride or calcium lactate to shape liquid, like fruit juice, into spheres with gel-like skin, resembling fish roe (eggs). For example, sweetened fruit juice spheres that have undergone this process and are added to the tea will burst and release their juice inside when squeezed.
• There is a wide variety of flavored boba teas, including the flavors of fruit, nuts, flowers, grains, roots, seeds, spices, and more. Examples are honeydew, lychee, mango, strawberry, almond, lavender, rose, barley, taro, sesame, ginger, brown sugar, caramel, chocolate, and coffee.

Let's Learn about Taiwan!

• Taiwan, officially known as the Republic of China, is a country in East Asia. The country consists of 168 islands. The main island of Taiwan (formerly known as Formosa) lies in the northwestern Pacific Ocean between the East and South China Seas. The People's Republic of China is northwest, Japan is northeast, and the Philippines is south. 
• The total area of Taiwan is 13,976 square miles. The population is over 23.3 million, with most people residing on the island of Taiwan.
• The majority of the population, 95 percent, is from the Han Chinese ethnic group. A subgroup, the ethnic Hoklo people, is 70 percent of the population, and they speak the Taiwanese Hokkien (or Taiwanese) language.  
• The de facto official language is Taiwanese Mandarin, and the official script or writing system consists of Traditional Chinese characters. National and indigenous languages include Formosan and Philippine languages.
• Taipei is the capital city, and New Taipei City is the largest city. 
• Taiwan is 112 miles across the Taiwan Strait from mainland China. In the 1895 treaty of Shimonoseki, concluding the first Sino-Japanese war, China ceded Taiwan to Japan. In 1945, it became part of the Republic of China, which was founded on mainland China in 1912. The government moved from mainland China to the island of Taiwan in 1949 during a civil war with the Chinese Communist Party.
• Chiang Kai-shek, a politician and revolutionary, led the Republic of China from 1928 until he died in 1975. The Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall is a cultural landmark in Taipei. 
• Taiwan sees itself as independent and separate from the People's Republic of China (mainland China). The PRC sees Taiwan as a breakaway province. These views have caused and continue to cause conflicts and controversies. Only 12 countries worldwide officially recognize Taiwan as an independent country.
• The government of Taiwan is a unitary semi-presidential republic with a president, vice president, premier or president of the Executive Yuan, and a legislature (Yuan). The currency is the New Taiwan dollar.
• The principal landform on the main island of Taiwan is called a "tilted fault block." It is created when tectonic forces create large, tilted blocks of rock, separated by faults. Tilted fault block mountains have a gentle slope on one side and a steep side on the exposed bluff. 
• The eastern two-thirds of Taiwan is mountainous, with five mountain ranges. Yu Shan is the tallest mountain in Taiwan at 12,966 feet. There are gently sloping plains in the west.
• The animal and bird species native to Taiwan include the Formosan black bear, Formosan rock macaque (monkey), Taiwan serow (a goat or antelope-like mammal), Taiwan blue magpie, Swinhoe's pheasant, collared bush robin, Taiwan bamboo partridge, as well as several endemic amphibians and reptiles. 
• Baseball is considered Taiwan's national sport. Basketball is another major sport.
• Ang Lee is a film director from Taiwan who has made critically-acclaimed movies seen all over the world, including Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Sense and Sensibility, Brokeback Mountain, and Life of Pi. Mr. Lee has won two Academy Awards for Best Director and has been nominated for directing three films.
• Students in the Taiwanese education system have consistently gotten some of the highest test scores in the world, especially in math and science.
• Taiwanese cuisine has influences from China and the Taiwanese indigenous peoples. Taiwanese beef noodle soup is one of the most famous dishes in Taiwan. It is made of Chinese noodles, beef, vegetables, and soy sauce. Taiwanese fried chicken (similar to popcorn chicken) is a common street snack, sold at night markets that operate from sunset to sunrise. 
• Boba or bubble tea was created in Taiwan in the 1980s. It is a cold tea-based drink with added sugar, milk, and floating tapioca pearls (or boba).

What's It Like to Be a Kid in Taiwan?

• Taiwanese families are close-knit. Children learn to honor and respect their family members, especially elders. Households may include extended family, especially in rural areas. 
• Education is highly valued in Taiwan. School days last 8 to 9 hours, and kids devote hours to after-school and weekend study. 
• The sports kids may participate in are baseball, basketball, badminton, volleyball, soccer, swimming, and tennis.
• There are several activities for kids and their families to do in Taiwan, including national parks, theme parks, zoos, and museums.
• The Taroko National Park is one of nine national parks in Taiwan, and is named after the Taroko Gorge. 
• The Leofoo Village Theme Park has three roller coasters, various themed areas with rides, including an African Safari. The Sun Moon Lake Ropeway is a system of cable cars that runs between two stations with views of the mountains and Sun Moon Lake. 
• The Chimei Museum displays antiquities and artifacts, arms and armor, fine arts, musical instruments, and natural history and fossils.
• Other places to visit: the Taipei Zoo; Xiaoliuqiu Island to see the giant sea turtles; Houtong Cat Village, a former coal-mining town turned cat village; Taipei 101 Observatory, in the country's tallest skyscraper at 101 stories; several leisure farms (petting zoos); and the Formosan Aboriginal Culture Village amusement park. 
• Night markets are very popular for street food and shopping, and often have an area with kids' games. 
• For breakfast, kids may eat "danbing" (egg and scallion-filled pancakes), "shaobing" (baked wheat cakes), "youtiao" (long, twisted cruller-like donuts), or "dou jiang" (fresh sweet or savory soy milk, served hot or cool in a bowl, often accompanying "youtiao"). 
• Snacks and treats for Taiwanese kids may include popcorn chicken, scallion pancakes, savory or sweet rice or taro balls, gua bao (pork belly buns), shaved ice, wheel cakes (filled, round, pancake-like pastries), bubble (boba) tea, and pineapple cakes.